The first time I deployed code to an actual factory floor, I learned that "edge compute" doesn’t live in climate-controlled racks. It lives next to dust, grease, and forklifts. The idealized world of distributed systems I had studied-clean APIs, reliable networks, consistent power-was a comforting fiction.The reality was far more brutal. Power flickers. Networks throttle to near-zero bandwidth because a welder turns on. Devices disappear mid-packet because a forklift driver unplugs them to charg...