Likewise, if you can do it, then those same tools and formal education might sharpen your abilities, but you can do journeyman work without them.
That, like so many things in life, depends. There is only so much that even a skilled person can do with an inferior tool. I'm not saying it's impossible, but if quick and efficient while knocking out quality makes it harder to use some inferior tools. Can it be done? Well again that depends on the situation, sometimes it can, sometimes it can't.
Make no mistake about it, I can do things from scratch without the time saving capabilities of the more expensive programs, but I would not be as quick and by extension as profitable without them. Like I said, I get paid the same if it takes me 5 minutes versus 5 hours and that's just how the majority of this industry charges. Just too many quick options for people to chose from, I would lose business as well. Ironically, the ROI on the more expensive program that I use(which you can buy several Master Collection Suites for the same price) is much quicker then the cheap or even free programs(due to the fact that a 5 dollar design would take 2 hours, that's $2.5 per hour, pitiful hourly wage wouldn't you think?) available out there and I do know what I'm doing bob, so don't think this is a cry from the incompetent digitizer.
Of course, there are some things that the inferior tools just can't do flat out, like compensate for different fabrics that the design is going to go on and there is nothing in the program to change that.
While having the top shelf programs doesn't in of itself mean that you know what you are doing, there is only so much that even a talented person can do with "inferior" tools. There is more to this then just getting the job done, there is getting the job done in a timely manner that you can still derive profit from.
I think you are a little too hung up on just the mere fact of getting to Point A to Point B. Sometimes that's fine, but not in all cases. Clients want Point A to Point B to also be as quick as possible and that may not be the case depending on what is in your "toolbox".