All of what you just said is an exact modern version of the same shortcuts. Net difference is probably minimal whether you had a crap book or watched a pile of

All of what you just said is an exact modern version of the same shortcuts. Net difference is probably minimal whether you had a crap book or watched a pile of YT in short order or short cut through someone else's project, or SO. Comprehension takes time. Thinking for yourself, making smart architectural decisions, working in an ambiguous stack, and so on. The nature of the shortcut for experience is the same. Experience crushes anything you learned elsewhere. My best engineers are senior engineers with a fuck load of experience for a reason.