I agree, as a computer science and maths undergrad, the first rewarding part of category theory was in algebraic topology where we first saw examples of very nontrivial functors (fundamental group, and homology). Up until that point, category theory seemed like a pointlessly abstract way of stating obvious facts.
Even now as a research mathematician, category theory is a good tool for guiding to the “correct” definitions of things, but virtually all the work after that is “category-less” in that it is completely and utterly specialised into the problem domain.
Category theory is still a fantastic way of organising information, stating things like universal properties, and also sometimes making “abstract nonsense” arguments (which often guide you towards some nontrivial observation in a particular category). But it is certainly not the panacea that some make it out to be.
Even now as a research mathematician, category theory is a good tool for guiding to the “correct” definitions of things, but virtually all the work after that is “category-less” in that it is completely and utterly specialised into the problem domain.
Category theory is still a fantastic way of organising information, stating things like universal properties, and also sometimes making “abstract nonsense” arguments (which often guide you towards some nontrivial observation in a particular category). But it is certainly not the panacea that some make it out to be.