Yes but you can take what you learned and actually apply it, and you can also use said knowledge of your mistakes to recognize other peoples mistakes.
And this game really isn't deep enough mechanics wise to make the claim that there is some great massive gap between players skill levels. This game requires very good micro at higher levels across every single faction. But the unit list is far to small and the amount of strategies far to small to consider planning a real difference maker.
I do understand the feeling you are talking about, when I first got into visiting and speaking with streamers and whatnot I learned so much so fast (Thanks Sibchat!), but eventually I just discovered the only real difference between players at high ranks was the ability to micro units effectively.
True, all good points.