When I was younger and more idealistic I took a chance and got a bachelor's in music. It didn't work out, but when I later became a programmer, one of things I took with me was this idea of "total immersion" - e.g. just hanging around and listening/watching the more experienced people do their thing.
Nice to see that I'm not alone in this idea!
Yeah, I think immersion works, but I'm not sure how to make it not a huge time sink. It feels like its a slow path as measured by hours invested, but sometimes It's the only way.
Going back to the earlier analogy, music has the same problem as programming in that the stuff you do for money doesn't necessarily translate to making you better at your craft. You end up being a factory that just produces the same thing over and over instead of growing in your craft.
I see this a lot at my job currently (I'm guilty of it as well) - speed is usually prioritized over anything else, and so bad patterns end up getting copied and "lifted and shifted" everywhere.
It's hard to find the balance.
Side note: also a degree in music turned programmer, hi!