Sometimes, I get the same urges as well. To contribute to as many open source project as I can; to learn the a new language and be proficient in it; to attend conferences to talk to other like minded folks.<p>However, I came down to the realisation of several things very quickly.<p>1) Something in my brain causes me to grasp new concepts quite slowly, no matter how interested I am in the subject. So it takes me longer to work through things.<p>2) I also enjoy my family life, so it comes down to searching for time after the family has gone to sleep or before they wakeup to do some tech stuff. Kids are still a bit young to do tech stuff together.<p>3) There are only 24 hours in a day and I wont get any more days after I dead. I want to allocate some of the hours away from tech and experience humanities.<p>Sorry, I am sorry that this does not really answer your question, but I think that this side of the coin is important as well.<p>My advice is to find a job that you really, really enjoy doing. Once you have reached there, give it all you have got during the working hours. Your social life will thank you for it.