While everyone gets to act like a PE, I'd encourage junior engineers to build a pet project manually. Primarily to develop the skill to know "where to ask for the details".
Or maybe keep manual coding to build confidence, so that one can say "I've done that before..." and be able defend or take apart a particular strategy.
Or maybe keep manual coding to build confidence, so that one can say "I've done that before..." and be able defend or take apart a particular strategy.