The tools shouldn't matter. A good engineer can use whatever tools are at hand, to achieve their ends, as long as they take a Disciplined approach, informed by industry Best Practices.
Tools can help us to work faster, and abstract some of the "day to day" trivia, but, at the end of the day, we are still left with ourselves.
If you want a lesson in limited tools, try working on embedded software.
Embedded development systems often have languages that are incredibly dangerous, and extremely limited (It's not uncommon to be working in a subset of ANSI C). Good embedded engineers are usually trained in hardware practices, as opposed to CS ones. They understand the core fundamentals of what they are doing, so their work is not just rote.
I know that it's an incredibly unpopular stance, but I don't see any alternate path to becoming a better engineer, other than through patience, practice, persistence, and Discipline.
Tools can help us to work faster, and abstract some of the "day to day" trivia, but, at the end of the day, we are still left with ourselves.
If you want a lesson in limited tools, try working on embedded software.
Embedded development systems often have languages that are incredibly dangerous, and extremely limited (It's not uncommon to be working in a subset of ANSI C). Good embedded engineers are usually trained in hardware practices, as opposed to CS ones. They understand the core fundamentals of what they are doing, so their work is not just rote.
I know that it's an incredibly unpopular stance, but I don't see any alternate path to becoming a better engineer, other than through patience, practice, persistence, and Discipline.