Most programmers I know never read papers, they read plenty of code but the code usually sucks. The reason why it sucks is because it was written by programmers

Most programmers I know never read papers, they read plenty of code but the code usually sucks. The reason why it sucks is because it was written by programmers that never read papers and so the cycle continues. If you don't start somewhere then you'll miss out on papers being an excellent source of knowledge about algorithms, datastructures and the like. They also introduce you to a more mathematical approach to problem solving. More papers, less code, and if you read code for its educational value make sure it is excellent code. Then go back to your daily drudge of fixing bugs in crappy code, hopefully transforming it into something more elegant along the way with the knowledge you pick up. Read papers, read good code to educate yourself.