I did not take a compilers class when I was in college. Many years later, feeling the lack, I bought the Dragon book. I didn't make it past Chapter 4 because I was inspired to write a new library and tool, which then brought me a modicum of career success.

Regehr is right on the money here: parsers and interpreters are everywhere. Once you learn how approachable and applicable they are, you can solve problems faster and better.

I now always recommend to college interns that they take their CS department's compilers course their senior year (along with their English department's Shakespeare course).