I went from captain doing the autothrottle, to doing everything myself including asking engines to set the power on a heavy jet to13 years of only getting the aircraft after clean up until landing the nose gear.
I understood the second and third philosophies.
In the old days of unrealisable engines, poor engine out performance and terrain it made sense. Since I had the employment conditions that most wouldn’t believe then I couldn’t care a dam.
it was about giving our passengers the safest and best operation that we could.