I'm not sure that's it. I do 100% consulting, and so end up working with lots of programmers.
In my experience, younger programmers who are otherwise competent tend to create the most complicated, generalized systems imaginable.
It's only when you get older, and have done enough systems, that you start to favor the "simple" approach Rich is talking about.
If I had to guess, I'd say that younger, more inexperienced programmers know there is a problem with complexity, and believe that "general", non-simple solutions are the way to tackle that complexity.
A similar thing happens with college students introduced to a new topic. They'll write these elaborate, complicated papers about the simplest of topics -- because they don't understand it well, and don't want to miss anything. It looks and feels very similar to what inexperienced developers do.
In my experience, younger programmers who are otherwise competent tend to create the most complicated, generalized systems imaginable.
It's only when you get older, and have done enough systems, that you start to favor the "simple" approach Rich is talking about.
If I had to guess, I'd say that younger, more inexperienced programmers know there is a problem with complexity, and believe that "general", non-simple solutions are the way to tackle that complexity.
A similar thing happens with college students introduced to a new topic. They'll write these elaborate, complicated papers about the simplest of topics -- because they don't understand it well, and don't want to miss anything. It looks and feels very similar to what inexperienced developers do.