Yes...
Few example;
12 Eng 11 Rep will beat Elite Engineer in Ship Repair rate.
12 Torp 11 Rep or 11 Torp 12 Rep will beat Elite Torpedo.
12 Reload 11 Rep will beat Elite Reload for AA in Ship Repair Rate.
Also U need to know the market/nation who need the most, example;
Selling Elite Eng for KM is useless (highest eng stat), better sell em as MN or IJN or RM.
For CV, its only hard for the 1st tier, after u got 1, credits wont be a problem.