Quite often, my job is to get the Engineer's chestnuts out of the fire when his theory doesn't quite match reality. I think experience is the best teacher.
Heh, no doubt. I've always loved someone's sig on this forum, that says "The difference between theory and practice is that in theory they are they same, and in practice they are not." I think the first 3 or 4 things I learned after college is that my booklearnin' doesn't count for jack, and if I haven't seen it with my own eyes, then it might as well not exist.