"I, personally, learned C++, being in the army at 20 something years old, with night shifts (for which I had incredible energy being 20 something years old, living for $150 a month (because I didn't have any kids), etc..."
I think you see where I'm going with this.
These days my girlfriend limits my coding time because apparently adults are supposed to, like, be adults. I'm often late for work, where my main job is coding, because I'm solving a fun coding puzzle of my own in the morning and lose track of time.
Yes, I'm weird. My point is that if you enjoy something, you'll find time to do it. If you don't, you won't. and that's okay
Those I know who're the most successful at software will train themselves, and will look for the opportunities to do that; you don't need the company to train you, you just need them to give you [pay you for] the time to learn.
On the other hand, this moves it from "a small matter of work/life balance" to "a small matter of office politics"...
but on the gripping hand, it does make sense that this difference in attitude is such a differentiator.
I'm 41 now, have two kids and wife, and still work at nights, exploring python/ML stuff and writing my own OS X app for interactive plotting [shameless plug removed].