I've been out there doing web apps and the like, and I always tried to get better and learn more. Eventually I picked up books with enough math in them to make

I've been out there doing web apps and the like, and I always tried to get better and learn more. Eventually I picked up books with enough math in them to make me fear them, and that was when a sneaking itchy feeling I had about my math incompetence became a full force rash. It was clear it was going to hold me back from the developer I wanted to be. I went back to school. Now I'm knee-deep in 400 level mathematics and while realizations of utility aren't daily, it is definitely a regular occurance where I see something and think, "ah, so there's a useful way to approach problem x." The other thing is even if some specific technique of MATH 4XX isn't useful, the thought process might be. I've noticed that my approach to problems has been tweaked in a mostly subtle but advantageous way. Of course it's true. Most of the database fetch print store work wouldn't benefit from this work, but I don't want to do that anymore. Hopefully it proves to be worth the trouble professionally, even though personally it's definitely beneficial.