I had a similar reaction when comparing software engineering to other professions. My brother is a lawyer, and he has to do continuing legal education (https://

I had a similar reaction when comparing software engineering to other professions. My brother is a lawyer, and he has to do continuing legal education (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continuing_legal_education https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Continuing_legal_education). I have friends who are doctors that go to (and sometimes speak at) conferences. I'm not sure that we software engineers need to spend all our free time on leetcode and answering StackOverflow questions, but reading a book about something outside of normal work hours seems like pretty tame stakes.