I like thinking and blogging [1] about electronic circuits despite lack of formal education. It being a hobby, I must concede that my involvement and proficiency remain well below industry standard.

[1] https://blog.georgovassilis.com/category/electronics/

I like that.

This looks like some creative effort, are you building lots of prototypes?

When I can, I tend to use the guitar as my equipment so I can get creative with my instrument; the amplifier.

And of course the soldering iron.

It took years but within a certain range of audio circuits including the relatively high-voltage vacuum tubes and associated components I worked with since childhood, I trained myself to design with the soldering iron until satisfaction has been achieved, then document later if at all.

Using surplus or scrap components which I might have unsoldered by hand before being able to recycle them, in advance of taking the risk with relatively expensive new components :)

You come up with all kinds of things when you concentrate on getting the most out of what you have an abundance of, even if it is far from perfect.

More complex things, I'll study drawings or make my own crude schematics for more than one session before accumulating specific parts and plugging in the soldering iron.

I had a lot of math & theory as a kid, which I've forgotten most of, but came out pretty good when you look at it and apply it like "tin/lead sculpture" ;)

No PCB lots of times so with point-to-point, more than one prototype per day was common, or for pedals I would make a PCB in the wet lab because it was more of a chem lab anyway.

I had scopes and test gear and it was all mainly needed for troubleshooting & repair, not design. A huge milestone was to go from components to defect-free operation, consistently the first time you plugged one in, using only a minimal DVM along the way. You can't expect connoisseur sound the first time at all, but as long as it works and nothing smokes you can go from there.

I have said before that you can't start building proficiency early enough, and it's never too late, especially for detailed traditional discrete analog component work.