He said:

"By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection,which is noblest; Second, by imitation, which is easiest; and third by experience, which is the bitterest."

In my opinion this is so true also on software development. It is easy just copy some blocks of code without really understanding how it works. But unless it is perfect and works exactly as programmer had guessed he will end up in a trouble with it - sooner or later. If he has to modify such code he will end up creating all kind of tweaks and hacks because he has no clue how to modify the core functionality.

The bitter approach is the experience. After banging head against the wall with various code snippets programmer will decide to stick with his favorite code and techniques which he remembers to be working ones. When somebody comes and suggests new technology he becomes angry and rejects such nonsense. His code with all those hacks and tweaks is the only proper code. And still he has only faint clue of how it works.

The smart programmer observes how those two guys are doing, does his own studies and picks the best approach. He had to spent some time reading, thinking and chatting with senior people but after that he shines with his knowledge.