The value of experience

I’ve long been a believer that 1 years hands-on experience is worth 5 years studying & learning… give or take a month.

The knowledge and understanding of a subject that you acquire through hands-on experience is so much more valuable than in-theorum training. Reading about waves and currents and tides in a book doesn’t give you the same knowledge of a ship captain who’s actually been there, done that. When hiring someone, its always experience that seals the deal over someone who’s only studied it in theory.

To illustrate that point… here’s a cool story:

Ever heard the story of the giant ship engine that failed? The ship’s owners tried one expert after another, but none of them could figure but how to fix the engine. Then they brought in an old man who had been fixing ships since he was a youngster. He carried a large bag of tools with him, and when he arrived, he immediately went to work.

He inspected the engine very carefully, top to bottom. Two of the ship’s owners were there, watching this man, hoping he would know what to do. After looking things over, the old man reached into his bag and pulled out a small hammer. He gently tapped something. Instantly, the engine lurched into life. He carefully put his hammer away. The engine was fixed!

A week later, the owners received a bill from the old man for ten thousand dollars.”What?!” the owners exclaimed. “He hardly did anything!”

So they wrote the old man a note saying, “Please send us an itemized bill.”

The man sent a bill that read:
Tapping with a hammer - $ 2.00
Knowing where to tap - $9998.00

Moral of the story: get your hands dirty. Try… fail… try again until you get it right. The knowledge that you’ll gain along the way is priceless.