IMO Open Source software communities are where folks like you can really thrive. They're much closer at something like a meritocracy than traditional workplaces.
> I want to make the next-gen version control system
While you certainly could invent one yourself, you could consider contributing to popular ones like git/mercurial. It'd help teach you both the positive and the negative aspects of their design choices. Also you could consider learning from newer approaches like Jujutsu [1] or Pijul [2] on your way to designing the next-gen system. Good luck!
> I want to make the next-gen version control system
While you certainly could invent one yourself, you could consider contributing to popular ones like git/mercurial. It'd help teach you both the positive and the negative aspects of their design choices. Also you could consider learning from newer approaches like Jujutsu [1] or Pijul [2] on your way to designing the next-gen system. Good luck!
[1] https://github.com/martinvonz/jj
[2] https://pijul.org/