Please don't drag any of the Military based training into this discussion.... as any ex-Forces guys know, you could trust any and all of your colleagues with your life. The new younger generation engineers straight out of college, well thats why they invented velcro to replace their shoe-laces.
No offence meant to any of them, some are good, some bad. Its' all down to the individual personality. True, the level is training and exams now are lower than when I went through the grill, what was wrong with the one-to-one interrogation? If you can deal with that kinda pressure situation, real world enginering is a piece if cake.