> It's getting to the point where I'm reading papers on the subject in my spare time. Sorry to rain on your parade, but you've still got a way to go. You're a

> It's getting to the point where I'm reading papers on the subject in my spare time. Sorry to rain on your parade, but you've still got a way to go. You're an occasional jogger. A PhD is a marathon. Which isn't to say that you shouldn't go for it, but its a hard road. An academic paper needs: - solid background research (think "literature review") - a bright idea - implementation Guess which are the hard parts. If you can do those then go ahead, write some papers, and publish your work. Given your outsider status, people will forgive you for not publishing in a peer-reviewed journal, but you need to publish equivalent material on a website. But would it be so much harder to just do a PhD?