Running into a career rock wall, and not in the traditional sense, need some advice if possible.

So I have been a network engineer for about 2 years and network experience before that, and I have spent approximately anywhere from 60 - 85 hours a week for the past year, studying and learning as much as I can about data center technology as it seems to be the more interesting/complex aspect of the industry, at least to me.

But with the realm of network engineering, everything seems very critical thinking based, and being someone who is multifaceted (might be the wrong word to use) in the sense where I like to be a visionary/be creative and address things in ways that have never been done before, I see myself at a slight impasse. I guess in a sense it is somewhat ego-based, but it more comes down to a sense of accomplishment internally. So I can say like "wow I addressed something that hasn't been looked at from that perspective before" and then get pleasure if I see that it helps accomplish something new/increase productivity.

To that end, since I am only in my mid 20's I feel like there is very little for me to accomplish because I have had 40 - 60 years of previous brilliant engineers in front of me addressing issues across the globe. I have had a lot of feedback from other people around me, that doesn't seem to understand why I am so anxious to go a different route than most people take in their careers as network engineers when I am so young in the industry. I love understanding how networking works at an engineering level unlike anything else, and I don't know why, but it's just how it is which is why I invest so much time into it.

Does anyone have any suggestions, for those of you who have felt the same in the past or who have the same passion towards network engineering?

I think this needs to be somehow redirected towards something else as it seemingly is causing some people at work to give me grief about being too inquisitive almost to the point where I feel like they feel threatened in the job security sense despite having no intention to cause them any problems. I could be incorrect in that assumption, but I know the work world is full of politics and this is something that can't be avoided, unfortunately.

Anyways, thank you to everyone who has read through this post and especially those of you who provide some helpful feedback.