I think you have a good point. I know an fairly good amateur folk musician who can't read music at all. He relies entirely on his ability to learn music by ear

I think you have a good point. I know an fairly good amateur folk musician who can't read music at all. He relies entirely on his ability to learn music by ear. But he can usually play something after listening to it a few times, and he mostly plays solo folk music. So because he's talented and happy in his niche, he can get by without many typical professional skills. Similarly, I know a CS researcher who hates to use anything but MatLab, and his MatLab code is not exactly an example of good software engineering. But he's published a stack of really great papers. He's brilliant and he works in a niche. But the average novice would not be well served by imitating either of these people. They can do what they do because they're above average in specific skills, and because they've found a niche where they can thrive.