I'm currently 36 and I have 11 years of professional experience as a _generalist_, not a specialist in any way.

This means I can solve any problem of yours, but I'm not your guy for a specific niche your business is in.

Does this mean I'm not your guy for solving your issues? No, it means I am the guy who can help you _find multiple solution(s)_ to your existing problem(s), but...tell that to employers that want to hire x10 programmers.

This lack of specialization limits me from other candidates for so many reasons:

  * In tech industry, at the age of 36 I'm considered old, a.k.a useless anymore.
  * I know a bit of everything, whereas fresh grads come in the game as fresh, vibrant, energetic
    humanoids that bring with them their newly acquired knowledge with an attitude of 
    "I do whatever my managers tell me for the sake of initial experience".
  * I work in a considerable "slow" pace, until I check everything it works as expected, in contrast to 
    youngsters that "just ship, fix the chaos later".
 

I never had this type of issue before.

Now, what should you do? Should you study or should you continue with your own self-learning process?

My suggestion would be "yes" _if_ and only _IF_ you plan to get a masters or a PhD degree and you can work for academia or research.

If that's not the case, you don't need the degree.

You should continue with your self-learnt pace, dive in deep waters without the slightest fear, and don't be afraid to ask countless questions, no matter what kind of questions might be or how silly or goofy might sound!

Learn as many languages as possible that intrigue you.

Don't be afraid of learning languages that look obscure to you.

I used to afraid of Perl due to its cryptic nature until I started learning it myself; now it makes perfectly sense.

I hope this helped a bit.