This is practically a high brow version of "math is hard, let's go shopping": hash tables are hard, let's use java.utils. Yes, you can write a lot of programs with a few primitives you've learnt in high school and some random bits of practical wisdom you've picked from co-workers. But you're horribly limited as well. (To pick a simple example: if you don't understand how hash tables work, then you probably also use naive O(n^2) algorithms where O(n log n) is possible with little extra effort.) It's a personal decision to stay this way, but it's quite awful, for other people who may look up to you, to quash their interest to become more educated by proclaiming higher knowledge is "dull" and useless.