That 80/20 split (for younger me) is what taught me enough that I can now think it all out ahead of time. When I just started around 20 years ago, it was all new, it was all confusing, and all the answers were hidden behind obscurity, gatekeeping, and strange social norms (no StackOverflow back then). So I had to learn by brute force, smashing my face into every project for somewhere around 100 hours a week.
Now I have some knowledge and perspective, even the ability to pick out the fads and novelties from time to time. I can try new things on small projects and I can go with tried and true for the big things and I tend to understand which projects are better for which approach. I can visualize the data, the models, the inputs and outputs, and think through the logic from beginning to end, all within about 30-50 hours per week. That took lots of late nights and a ton of trial and error.
There's a good place for the less experienced and more experienced on any well balanced team, to be certain.
Now I have some knowledge and perspective, even the ability to pick out the fads and novelties from time to time. I can try new things on small projects and I can go with tried and true for the big things and I tend to understand which projects are better for which approach. I can visualize the data, the models, the inputs and outputs, and think through the logic from beginning to end, all within about 30-50 hours per week. That took lots of late nights and a ton of trial and error.
There's a good place for the less experienced and more experienced on any well balanced team, to be certain.