Do you ever lose hands-on experience?

I ask this question because I have known of trainers who last touched a production system 15+ years ago (and it wasn’t even a MS network at that) and yet still proclaim that they have valid, hands-on experience with current operating systems? This would seem to me to be stretching your experience beyond even that of Mr. Fantastic. I was in the Infantry, based in Germany in the early 80’s and drove the old M113 APCs – does that mean I can claim I know how to drive one of the new Bradley’s? I think not and others would agree (especially the poor grunts in the back) – so how can someone who hasn’t touched a production system in 15 years tell a class that they have valid, current, hands-on experience? I don’t think they can and this leads back to one of my points I have said before – trainers must have hands-on experience with current software to remain relevant (unless it is your goal teach the last Windows XP class in a few years – than what are you going to do?) There is a lot we can practice with virtual machines to learn new technologies – but it is always in a sterile, fully functional environment. The true test to learning a system is to not only install it and work with the product, but to also be able to troubleshoot the product where the option to wipe the system is not available and you can’t say “This has never happened in the classroom before”. This is what differentiates a page-turner with a trainer who has hands-on experience and has done some consulting work. I have worked with both types – the trainer/consultant and the page-turners and page-turners with hands-on experience that is decades old. If you want a question answered about a troublesome spot in a lab – ask the page-turners, if you have a question about how the product really works, ask the trainer-consultant as only they will know the right answer based on their hands-on experience working with the software/OS in a production environment.