[Frostlike4444]

"why do you think the 40+ hours of work you do for your employer every week isn't also helping to improve your skills?"

You're 100% correct here. I'm definitely learning and improving just by doing my normal work. I suppose I worry about how much of that learning will transfer to another job.

"Stick with the industry long enough and you will: (a) get laid off, and (b) watch better engineers get laid off while you don't."

Thank you for the perspective here. I'm probably better off thinking about how I will navigate a lay off, instead of praying it doesn't happen.