Agreed. It is crazy. I have a strong dev background and got a PhD. I love to learn .. any free time I get, I further my knowledge. Since I don't do it to improv

Agreed. It is crazy. I have a strong dev background and got a PhD. I love to learn .. any free time I get, I further my knowledge. Since I don't do it to improve skills, I have freedom to learn whatever I want. For a few months, I was obsessed with semiconductors and MEMS. These days, I love hacking FPGAs. Before that, I was playing with deep learning with torch. Point is .. you do not need to quit your job for learning. Agreed with parent poster .. save cash, attend meet ups/events to find like minded people ... the coding/hacking culture is awesome but it is a treadmill. There will always be new stuff coming out. You need to focus on concepts more than specific software or middleware. Have you heard of "papers we love"?