Unless you are paid to read papers and implement cutting edge stuff, your time is better spent leetcoding that has a direct short term impact on maximizing your TC.
If not, do you believe there is value in education beyond optimizing TC?
I'm speaking from experience. I got a PhD while working full-time. I enjoyed it and it gave me a lot of perspective. But - if I'd spent even 1/6th the time LC'ing I'd probably have a much higher TC at this point :). No regrets - but its an amusing thought that kinda lurks in the background.
Putting TC aside (don't most programmers make plenty anyways?), isn't it just cool to learn new and cutting-edge things? Personally, I think so. Curiosity is central to what it means to be a hacker.
What's TC in this context?
It really annoyed me to not know what it meant, so I spend a bit of time finding that