(In that specific case, with that specific very skewed data distribution, yes. But not necessarily in the general case. So "they" would be better off with that solution, but not a generalized "you").

Then how do they learn

My guess is that they would be more likely to “fix” and “improve” Ken’s algorithm than understand it (Jon Bentley mentioned, in passing, a similar case where this was the outcome.)

They can learn finite automata from computer science text books.

True, i suppose, but theres simply no substitute for contextual, on the job learning. imo

Oh! "Educating the newbies/grunts" is the reason for #$#@&#?

I'd say that an org has a limited number of pennies to spend on non-trivial code. Let's spend them wisely.

That's exactly how you get today's abysmally slow software though, because if you chain enough components you end up running into 1% cases all the time.