University. If I had hacked around, I would have a much deeper practical knowledge.

I think you need to both study from university or books to get some broad knowledge (Shannon, Euler, differential, zk, etc) and also hack around with code and bits quite a lot, especially trying to break things, before you should call yourself a cryptographer.

I can't call myself that. I only did the book learning and don't have the practical experience to draw on.