Chemistry is an enormous field too, you would have to concentrate on a much smaller section, I have been self studying for about 8 years now, (+ I have 20 years software development experience) and I think I'm getting to the point where I have complete understanding of the current SOTA and am pushing at the boundaries -- most of the ideas I am implementing are coming out in papers weeks or months later, so I feel like I'm at the edge.
Self study requires an enormous amount of discipline though, which is partially why universities exist - because most people do not have the discipline to stick at something for 3-8 years, and I am doing it 7 days a week, almost every day of the year - because I just love this stuff, it's not tiring, it's exhilarating!
That’s why my startup is working on catalysis models, so that we can get some catalysts to dramatically decrease the energy requirements of these enormous industrial processes. Also things like green chemistry (another project we are working on) is going to remove the need for a petroleum based chemical and replace it with an organic one that comes out of discarded orange peels.
Yep sure, I’m not going to have a nation-state level of impact, but the discovery of the right catalyst can often change entire industries.
So I’m trying as hard as I can, every day, to push towards a sustainable future, if enough people do it, we might be able to start to move the needle