In Verner Vinge’s space opera A Deepness in the Sky, he proposes that one of this future’s most valuable professions is that of Programmer-Archaeologist. The Programmer-Archaeologist churns through this maddening nest of ancient languages and hidden/forgotten tools to repair existing programs or to find odd things that can be turned to unanticipated uses.
https://web.archive.org/web/20120308181908/http://oddbill.com/2007/07/04/programmer-archaeologist/
@neauoire I liked that book a lot.