I think when he says "wasting their time" he means that the time wasn't spent becoming a better engineer. If the end goal was to get a job then, no, they didn'

I think when he says "wasting their time" he means that the time wasn't spent becoming a better engineer. If the end goal was to get a job then, no, they didn't waste their time. If the goal was to be the best engineer possible then perhaps they did.