It's not just about confidence though. Yes, for some people, the question of whether they're a good enough programmer might stem from (social) insecurity, and I

It's not just about confidence though. Yes, for some people, the question of whether they're a good enough programmer might stem from (social) insecurity, and I think what you're saying might be a very good answer for them. But others, including myself, ask the question because we want to, as you say, 'always be learning'. We might be insecure, for example, about getting stuck at some equilibrium that isn't optimal, and just fishing for where to go next. For example, it was through similarly-themed threads on HN that I learned about functional programming. I learned how important immutability might be, and to try and keep my functions and methods pure, even if I'm not going all in on the functional stuff. Hell, even just thinking in terms of separating data from code was a revelation that I might have missed without HN functional weenies constantly submitting articles that boiled down to that as a point. Anyways, not disagreeing with you necessarily, just nuancing.