It certainly is a great hobby. I'm not a physicist either but I keep reading papers and taking courses on YT about areas I'm interested in — Materials science,plasma, Electrostatics,fluids,thermodynamics etc.

Good thing is science doesn't change like tech. Once you learn something it's for life. No need to keep learning new frameworks/tools every year. It's stable and yet immensely flexible.

With AI research and studying has become a lot easier. Give it a try if you're interested.Now is a great time to start.