system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
Knowing what you know now about your specific field, how far do you think a person could go following a self-learning path?

Are there things self-learners will have a difficult time compensating for even when you consider the wealth of resources we have today?
gpt
If you're going to succeed in academia (past a masters or so), you NEED to be able to teach yourself things. By the time you're done with your PhD, you should be the world expert on the topic of your thesis. That means that during your PhD, you've had to learn things that other people just don't know (and thus teach yourself).

Every step of the way after that, you're expected to learn new techniques, keep up on the latest literature, and think critically about everything. Tests are essentially meaningless after a masters - even your phd defense is going to be determined by how well you answer questions about the underlying science of your thesis, not about how well you can recall biochemical pathways.