I gotta say that's contradictory. A good circuit board designer would not design without a computer any more then a good draftsperson would pull out triangles and vellum. He would know how for simple jobs but will also know that the computer will do a better job in less time. Best tools for the job and all.
Yes, I've laid out simple PC boards using a resist pen and I'm old enough to know how to draft by hand (BSEE). I also understand the problems with CAD. You do need to understand what the program is doing or you wind up with right angles on traces running MHz signals. Intel had major problems, digitial thinkers, one old Ham in the mix would have saved them years back in the 66MHz bus days.
Yeah I know....computers can do it faster but not always better. The designer has to know what he/she wants first. I worked for Tektronix in Oregon. We designed 14 layer boards. Did some for Intel when the 286 and 386 motherboards came out.
You sound like my business partner - 17 years as a research and test engineer with Bell Labs, and an audio engineer and ham to boot.