I wrote a little article about this - http://samueldelesque.tumblr.com/post/77811984752/what-re-inventing-the-wheel-can-teach-you

In my experience, re-inventing has actually been great - although very lengthy and tedious. I would say, if you don't know exactly the programming models you are going to use, then write them yourself (if you have the time and energy). This will teach you about what exactly those programming models mean and you will become a better programmer ultimately. Of course, if you are working for a client and just need to get something up quickly, you will probably just want to do some research and find the right piece of software for you.