[RiderOfGiraffes]

  > ... optimizing a trivial algorithm is not
  > something you'll encounter out of school.

Sometimes it is. For me, it happens a few times a year.

More importantly, the techniques, methods and mind set are critical daily in the code I and my employees write.

But we aren't doing web development.

[dwc]

I agree.

There's also another thing that happens, which is to look at a big mess of twisty code and think about it, finally seeing that it should have been done as a simple algorithm. Then you get to delete a lot of code and replace it with a small bit of clear code.

There are many more ways the simple things learned in school help in the real world.