Is it worth switching to a hedge fund software job given my situation?

Greetings people,

So I'm a software developer in NYC, been employed around 5 years now. Income level is around $130k/yr (before tax). Last couple of years, I have allocated around $50-60k into my retail trading account, have written up my own back-testing framework in C# and have built some basic signal generation and portfolio management code connected to my brokerage through their C# API. Nothing fancy, but I have developed a very strong interest to break into finance, have met a couple of very successful millionaire-types with hedge fund backgrounds, been reading up classic books on the subject and what not..

Problem at hand is, I'm seeing the general consensus is that "technology" at a hedge fund is a cost center and not a profit center. I get that. The catch 22 is, being a developer at your typical NYC tech IPO or whatever is not much different in terms of income levels, for the general person. Mostly under $150k, whether you sit at Google or such, or take up a cost-center IT position at a hedge fund. What is a better path to break into coming onto acquiring a skill around the profit-center side (be it trading with your own money, or learning how to do valuations, etc.), if you're currently in a 'non-scalable' career (aka software developer)..

I have recently interviewed at a NYC fund (AUM of around $8-9 billion, ranks in the top 50 list if you search their name) and cleared their initial screening and been invited to the next round.

My current tech job, allows for a lot of freedom. I have flexible hours, I can come in and go out at any time on most days, I can work from home on most days, and can take days off as needed without losing pay. From an entrepreneurial stand point, I think that's a great situation to be in, when you can bring home six figures and generate free time to work on something else in parallel (like, a startup, or side consulting work to bill more hours, or studying finance, or trading or whatever)..

Here's some of my open-ended questions/concerns, given my situation:

[1] Is it wiser to stay put where I am, and use my free time to build myself up towards trying to enter the "profit center" side of a hedge fund... or is it wiser to leave this "comfortable" job and take a "cost center" coding job at a hedge fund with the expectation that learning the trading infrastructure at an established fund + getting to interact with traders there will be a better path to transitioning into the "profit center" side of funds..?

[2] Will my trading skills improve if I see how a professional hedge fund operates being a full-time employee there? Or will my trading skills improve faster if I continue to use my free time at my current job and keep studying/learning about trading/finance...?

[3] Has any developer ever managed to transition out from the cost center side of a hedge fund over to the profit center side by working there and learning about the business/finance side? Or is that not viable, I assume a hedge-fund tech job will eat up a lot more than 40 hours a week, or even if it's typical 40 hours a week, the drain on my brain cells will be pretty high and will leave me with 0 energy to pursue "studying finance" during the free time.

[4] Can that learning of the business/finance side of a hedge fund be obtained by NOT working there, and just sticking to my flexible tech. job and using my free time I have in my current situation where I can work less than 40 hours a week and bring home income that allows me to keep growing my trading account..?

Thanks!