How long should you keep at it? As long as it gives you personal fulfillment. In time you will acquire world-class expertise and with certainty make discoveries. Maybe big ones. If you are at all like me (and almost all the scientists I know are, in this regard), you will find friends among your fellow enthusiasts and experts. Daily satisfaction from what you are doing will be one of your rewards, but of equal importance is the esteem of people you respect. Yet another is the recognition that what you find will uniquely benefit humanity.
