I can't understand why the writer seems so bitter about spending so much time on something they clearly love... I mean, what else is there to do? Lots of boring obligatory stuff!
The character gained something, which is knowledge, but lost something, which is the ability to be satisfied ever again.
Maybe another good analogy is vampirism. Yes you gain amazing powers like the ability to live forever, shapeshifting, and super strength/healing, who could complain about that? But at what cost? You can't even go outside in the sun anymore or eat garlic knots, so maybe it's not that great.
No, that's a great analogy. I can neither condone nor dispute it on rhetorical grounds, but aesthetically it is rad.
Perfectly describes the hero programmer stuck in the rabbit hole.