It appears OP is looking for some solid foundational skills to help them make decisions. I don't see any issues with that.

You could do that, as you suggest, on someone else's dime/risk profile, but they want to bear it themselves. Why not?

The thing is, the real world development is not as fun as Computer Science, some parts at least. Think of it as a recreational activity, similarly to reading belletristic or listening to music.

Good question. I wonder I'd its better to read up on how to be a better coder (code complete etc.) and also learn about architecting systems. None of this is usually taught in CS.