You've made an interesting comment. I've felt the same way about some of the things you've mentioned, such as

"In the end, it's the same thing over and over again. Symbols swapping with others symbols denoting some kind of esoterically tangible, but ultimately fleeting, meaning."

I feel that way about all the different languages, new ones or old. Just different symbols that distill down to machine instructions.

My question to you, how do you approach learning? Learning new things and marking your progress? What gives you the satisfaction that you've made progress in "learning" a given topic?