Well, getting a PHD from going to college isn't the point. You're going to college to get the degree to find better jobs, but even with that PHD, you'll be working at the bottom for a while until you get that job experience.
Either way, you guys who are saying all this are still saying "by the second day" or "practice in singleplayer". All of that is still implying that you are not playing at an expert level just from reading guides and builds on the internet.
I don't care who you are, if you read a few guides and go online to play your first game, you aren't going to win unless you are playing a tard. You need actual game experience, whether it be jumping online, dieing a few times, playing singleplayer, or getting help from a better player.
Nobody NEEDS to learn from joining a noob game to get help, or even by reading these forum posts. All these things just help to improve the rate at which you get better. There is no harm in that, and coming hear saying you didn't need it isn't saying much. Nobody does. It just helps.