Photography has paid my bills for quite some time. I'd like to think that I'm a decent photographer.
What is photography though? To me, it's not about pushing a button in front of a subject. It's about interaction.
As photographers we interact with things and try our best to capture a moment of time.
With this understanding, we shouldn't look to see how nice of a camera we can ladder up to. We need to master our gear we use, yes, but we should also take notes on who we've become as a person using these skills.