When I was an FO on the 744, one Captain with whom I flew often, encouraged me to fly raw-data approaches. Several others encouraged hand-flying as often as possible, from takeoff to TOC and from TOD to landing.
That combination served me well when I got a 747 Classic Captain seat. Though I hadn't flown a steam-gauge airplane IFR in over 20 years, the transition was relatively easy.
It's too bad that our company now interprets the FAA's AC 90-100A to mean we MUST use autopilot for all US RNAV SIDs and STARS, not "flight director and/or autopilot" as the AC actually says (the AC allows for specific company procedures and checklists in compliance with the AC). Now there are many fewer hand-flying opportunities...