I'm not so sure about this. If, like you say, someone is in a job where they need to read some papers with some math in them, they should be organizationally ne

I'm not so sure about this. If, like you say, someone is in a job where they need to read some papers with some math in them, they should be organizationally near someone who can help them out. If possible, I think a better strategy (better even than getting a degree) would be to find these people and develop a relationship with them to the point where you can ask them questions. Fair point. One could also form a math "study circle" of some sort if you are in an area with enough mathematically oriented folks to find people to participate. I did this briefly and it was a valuable thing. It kind of fell apart for different reasons, but I could see doing it again at some point.