> By this I mean something similar to a trade school.
I'm guessing you mean a trade school for topics of interest to you that normally would not be covered in a trade school. Schools exist because there are enough people who would find the curriculum of interest and enough teachers to teach them. Because of this, not all topics that might be of interest to you can be taught in a school or in the order you would prefer the most. I think you're entering the territory of self-directed learning (https://medium.com/wondr-blog/self-learning-why-its-essentia...) which is very important and valuable lifelong skill to develop and cultivate.
Check out resources like MIT OpenCourseWare, participating in programming projects on github where you can collaborate with like-minded people on a project you find mutually beneficial, or Youtube. If you take a look at classes or applications of the topics you are being taught further down the road of what you're exploring, it might give some more relevance to them. Youtube has a lot of great videos on a lot of niche, practical topics. You can subscribe the channels to keep getting an ongoing update from someone on topics of interest to them. Another important thing to keep in mind is that topics of interest to you may not be in vogue now, but were more relevant in the past before the next best thing took over. Oftentimes, you can find material of interest in older books and back catalogues which explored them in much more detail. You might also find that some of community college classes are more practical or focused on teaching what you need as a professional because they are more focused on getting people with a wider variety of backgrounds up-to-speed on a topic, and know less of what classes have been taken or will be taken next by their students.
> I constantly wonder where they find the motivation to do this.
The motivation can simply be chasing opportunities over immediate interests. A lot of people like to learn with other people who can help them with what is being taught so that they don't get stuck along the way without anyone to rely on for help.
Leaving your options open oftentimes means going after opportunities because they are there and have a clearer progression towards things that might be of interest or value over the things of genuine interest now. It's a very personalized decision to balance chasing opportunities over things of greater interest, and both are equally reasonable. Depending on what genuinely interests you, if you want to make a career out of it or incorporate those things in the things you work on, then following a more defined path that others are more familiar with is going to open opportunities to others to want you to work on those things of interests.
I'm guessing you mean a trade school for topics of interest to you that normally would not be covered in a trade school. Schools exist because there are enough people who would find the curriculum of interest and enough teachers to teach them. Because of this, not all topics that might be of interest to you can be taught in a school or in the order you would prefer the most. I think you're entering the territory of self-directed learning (https://medium.com/wondr-blog/self-learning-why-its-essentia...) which is very important and valuable lifelong skill to develop and cultivate.
Check out resources like MIT OpenCourseWare, participating in programming projects on github where you can collaborate with like-minded people on a project you find mutually beneficial, or Youtube. If you take a look at classes or applications of the topics you are being taught further down the road of what you're exploring, it might give some more relevance to them. Youtube has a lot of great videos on a lot of niche, practical topics. You can subscribe the channels to keep getting an ongoing update from someone on topics of interest to them. Another important thing to keep in mind is that topics of interest to you may not be in vogue now, but were more relevant in the past before the next best thing took over. Oftentimes, you can find material of interest in older books and back catalogues which explored them in much more detail. You might also find that some of community college classes are more practical or focused on teaching what you need as a professional because they are more focused on getting people with a wider variety of backgrounds up-to-speed on a topic, and know less of what classes have been taken or will be taken next by their students.
> I constantly wonder where they find the motivation to do this.
The motivation can simply be chasing opportunities over immediate interests. A lot of people like to learn with other people who can help them with what is being taught so that they don't get stuck along the way without anyone to rely on for help.
Leaving your options open oftentimes means going after opportunities because they are there and have a clearer progression towards things that might be of interest or value over the things of genuine interest now. It's a very personalized decision to balance chasing opportunities over things of greater interest, and both are equally reasonable. Depending on what genuinely interests you, if you want to make a career out of it or incorporate those things in the things you work on, then following a more defined path that others are more familiar with is going to open opportunities to others to want you to work on those things of interests.