As someone who spent a lot of time learning Chinese without any clear end goal, I think it was mostly a waste of time. Educational? Yes, and it's fun to be able to understand Chinese characters from time to time, but in hindsight I would've rather spent all that time on something more meaningful to my life.

That said, if you intend to live in China or have Chinese heritage or you have some other reason to study Chinese --- that's great! But it's not a bad idea to consider where you're going with something before dumping thousands of hours into it. (In fact, I quit chess for the same reason...)