Just don’t learn those things. Sounds like your mind simply won’t latch onto knowledge unless it is associated with an authentic problem. My mind also works that way.

People will tell you to suck it up. Don’t. Find interesting problems and then solve them naturally. You will learn lots and it will feel great. I wrote about this in my book Secrets of a Buccaneer-Scholar.

I have used this method for my entire career since I became a professional coder at 16 after dropping out of high school. It may be important to note that I use coding in my work (software testing consultant, trainer, expert witness) but I am independent and don’t do production coding for commercial products. I don’t have the patience for all that. I burned out as a production coder when I was 19, and have been in testing ever since.

In other words— I get to say screw Jenkins— I write my own frameworks and that’s fine.