But maybe that's what it takes, understanding and exploiting patterns.

It feels like I am just trying to build blocks and fit them as hard as possible without really trying to tear all of it down and start again from the basics. Sometimes it feels like it lacks rigor, because there is hardly any mathematics (read lack of established theory or laws).

Being a computer engineering practitioner, sometimes it's hard to accept that I am in a field of engineering considering how little mathematics is involved, especially the field that I am involved in, i.e computer architecture.

A lot of times, the popular discourse of physics delves into so much of pop-culture that we forget how much knowledge of mathematics is required to properly understand physics.