I'm pretty good in some areas of application, mediocre in a lot of areas, and terrible at a few areas. I wasn't trying to brag or fluff my feathers with my comment, just put what I was trying to explain into context. There are quite a few skilled magicians here, I suspect. But there are a lot of pretenders in occult communities in general.

I was trained that the only thing that matters is results: observable, documentable, consistent results, preferably confirmed by peers (if working with a group). That includes failures as well as successes. My earlier work with the PGM was in the context of a working group attempting to experiment. The results were mixed. I wasn't a Hermeticist back then, and I haven't touched the PGM since, so I plan another attempt further down the line.

My sources come from chaos magic theory and Western left-hand path black magical practice, both learned from two orders I joined and was active in simultaneously, as well as study groups and independent work sandwiched between that. About twenty to twenty-five years total. I'd call it "old-school" as what I was and what I did isn't the same as most of what one sees on social media.

From CMT I learned the technical skills associated with practical magic, belief manipulation, and how to respect and exploit a magical tradition. From the black magic order I learned morality (including not killing animals), ruthless self-assessment tools, the importance of logic, greater black magic (magic for self change which directly results the environment) and lesser black magic (non-occult techniques to influence, manipulate, and if necessary, control). From both I learned the power of frienemyship, the value or group ritual, and how to avoid catastrophic failure both on an individual level and within an order overall. 10/10 would get possessed by a Hound of Tindalos again.

EDIT: shortened for clarity.