Risk tolerance big, I have other income waiting for me. I'm confident about my UNIX skills, not so much about programming because I was never involved in big p

Risk tolerance big, I have other income waiting for me. I'm confident about my UNIX skills, not so much about programming because I was never involved in big projects. On the other hand, whatever I needed to do... I did it. BUT given the programmers I see on SO and here, I really can't say if I could excel at professional without trying, not because I don't believe in myself (quite the opposite) but because I see extremely talented people with striking resumes. What gives me hope though, is that .. HN/SO it's a sort world-stage. You have Google engineers, consultants, encryption gurus etc. commenting. I'm more eager to pursue the skills mastering. That's another dilemma I have: Spend time studying for a university or writing code/attacking real-world problems/contribute to an open source project, etc.