I also did the same thing 25+ years ago with computer magazines. And similarly, I built up a little programing business.

There, it felt like I learned a lot by experimenting hands-on. That's probably what I need to do more in this situation too. In a structured fashion.

The line between being a "generalist" and "knowing a little about a lot, but not enough about anything to do anything" is fine.

Reminds me of my first time reading the Yamaha Sound Reinforcement Handbook when I was just getting into the live sound field. Read it again a year later after a lot of time in the trenches and the things that were gibberish at first now made complete sense.

To the OP, if you find something interesting but it's above your head dig in and you'll learn. Otherwise just smile and nod. I'm by no means a software engineer though I can (and do) write code to get various jobs done. Lots of stuff here is interesting to me but lots also is of no interest and/or way above my pay grade. I'm happy to be surrounded by stuff that has the potential to challenge me to grow.