My hobby (speedcubing) is like that as well. If you ask any semi competent speedcuber you will hear something along the lines of “Get the newest RS3M (9$) and maybe some lube (4$)”. I love it for that.
(Of course it s all a foot-in-the-door scam to get you hooked so you buy other events but shhh)
This is not a fair comparision imo. There is an assumption that salary is corellated with experience/knowledge/being useful. Fairer comparision would be judging Ferrari mechanic for not knowing how to change oil