One of the best things about this game is that it allows characters to build upwards and outwards. Too many games are into hyper-specialization. The unwritten assumption: Your ranger must strive to be the greatest version of "ranger" he can be. I like that this game captures the idea that there are limits to what a character can achieve within a given specialization.
Order 66 is a good example. No matter how awesome the Jedi were they were still vulnerable to being shot in the back by their clones. No matter how good you think you should be as a pilot you can't over specialize.
This does several things.
It makes things easier on your GM. He can pretty much always use tie fighters to threaten your pilot. He might need to use a whole lot of them to challenge an experienced pilot, but they are always a viable threat in enough numbers.
Your character can never be so good at piloting that the other players shouldn't even bother with learning. No matter how good you are, having a few friends who have at least some competence is a good thing. This is especially good for social skills and interactions as having the "Face" do all the talking gets old really fast.
Characters become multi-dimensional by necessity. Not everyone is a born role-player and sometimes even the folks that are have a bad day. Having a character who solves problems with a variety of tools is both more interesting and better for the group dynamic.
Every been playing when one of your friends gets pissy because he doesn't have anything to do that might help with the current challenge? If he's forced to figure out how his character is more than just a pilot he'll have something to do other than crack jokes.
Take Wash. He is more than just a pilot. He's quite socially adept. He uses humor to make peace and get what he wants. Most of the time he's so adept at this that the other characters don't even realize they're being manipulated. He's also well educated as indicated by his speech patterns.
"Yes Jayne, she's had congress with the beast."
"She's in Congress?"
Thinking outside the box is good for players and characters alike. I'm still bummed that we got squat in for new equipment and mods, however.