Hardly anyone gets to their level of experience and knowledge without instruction. The Wright Brothers and Boelke were 100 years ago. They had to. Most of us learned from many others.

Watch AB guys transition to Boeings, or vice versa, and you'll realize the truth in Hacker's comment - guys need to be exposed to different techniques and procedures to develop the skills for their new job.

The guys who do well in one area tend to do well in the next but it's not a given.

And the worst is watching guys take old techniques and apply them to new circumstances when it's negative transfer. Like watching guys put full aileron controls in a airliner for crosswind takeoffs, or pumping the stick like they're trying to hit the 3 wire dead on centerline, slamming th speed brakes in or out, or chasing every knot of airspeed, pulsing the rudder like it's a tail dragger in a gusty crosswind, etc, etc.