After spending years learning on the job, I started reading the documentation books cover to cover, and I have never looked back. Colleagues are often amazed at

After spending years learning on the job, I started reading the documentation books cover to cover, and I have never looked back. Colleagues are often amazed at my "deep knowledge" of the technologies I use, however I mostly know what is written in the manual. It baffles me that people can't be bothered to read the documentation and at the same time complain that "X is too hard! Let's use Y instead!"