That depends entirely on the kind of programming you're trying to do. For beginners working in high level languages it is an implementation detail they need not be concerned about.
Growing up with BASIC, I didn't have any understanding of pointers or how memory worked. PEEK and POKE, which I only saw used in other people's programs and examples, were black magic as far as I could tell. It wasn't until I learned C that I actually understood them but I still managed to write a whole lot of programs without ever using them.
To be a professional programmer I'd agree though. If you don't understand how pointers work, regardless of the language you're using, you're probably not good at your job.
Growing up with BASIC, I didn't have any understanding of pointers or how memory worked. PEEK and POKE, which I only saw used in other people's programs and examples, were black magic as far as I could tell. It wasn't until I learned C that I actually understood them but I still managed to write a whole lot of programs without ever using them.
To be a professional programmer I'd agree though. If you don't understand how pointers work, regardless of the language you're using, you're probably not good at your job.