mouldy.org

All good stuff, as a non-software engineer. But do you software engineering types want to be programmers, or engineers?

If all you want to do is program in a nice environment that some capable person has set up for you that's fine, you don't need to know anything outside your world. And surely the most efficient way to learn is an on-the-job apprenticeship and a TAFE course in the currently fashionable programming language.

If you want to have a deeper understanding of what's going on, and be able to adapt to new challenges, a knowledge of the basics will serve you well. Even analogue electronics, which is used to build digital electronics which is used to build computers. It all comes back to basics eventually, and learning about these arcane things can only make your mind more flexible, and give you a broader perspective.

So, learn the specifics of the trade by all means, but don't neglect the underlying theory. Things like version control and build regimes aren't really complicated and you can easily pick them up on the job, although I completely agree that students should be exposed to the concepts as part of other work.