We have all done that, even though we do know the difference (we really have learned it, not just "learned" it, and if asked, could explain it.) What you learn from this experience is merely to pay close attention.

What makes a pilot or dev 'senior' is mostly a combination of a sense of what is normal (and which deviations are significant), and good judgement. While these are skills learned by experience, they still can, to a degree, be communicated in language, but skills like perfect pitch can only be described in language - if you get it wrong, no-one can explain what you could have done to get a better outcome.