strangely enough, though most of these conversations are focused on the trades, the same thing happens at the professional level.
When I want to hire an engineer, I don't give a rats ass whether he or she can integrate a trig function. I want them to be able to think critically. To look at a system and think through what might have gone wrong, or what could go wrong, and how to fix it at the root cause level. If they can do that, they can learn the refrigeration cycle. They don't need to be able to write software, but if they can break a process down to the steps a computer needs to execute it, they'll be able to figure it out.
If they have that critical thinking mindset, then training is easy because all I have to really do is start off with simple stuff and then gradually increase the complexity, because as long as they're not overwhelmed, they'll think through it and figure it out themselves, which sticks in the brain way more solidly than just being told.