Overheard at a dinner party ...
Software development in the Silicon Valley is like students at a Montessori School. Doing pretty much anything they please to entertain themselves while exploring the subject matter. Software development in the defense or mission critical business (in the same Silicon Valley) is like Marine Corps boot camp. Recruits learning the skills to think for themselves and make life-saving decisions, inside a well-developed syllubus of past battles won and lost.