Is it too late to join Eve?

I know this question probably get asked every now and then, but I wanted to be able to get in depth intel that I could go back and forth with. I've been playing Eve for about a year now, and I know some improvements have been made, but as someone who is finally coming to grasp with the game as a whole, I feel like the disadvantage gap between me and someone that has played 10 years will never be diminished (I'm not asking to completely catch up mind you).

I really don't feel as though I've been able to achieve anything consequent in Eve skillwise, and therefore still feel like an outsider, even after an entire year.

In 1 year, I have been able to set up a decent miner/trade/pve setup. I know that I could have done a lot more if I had payed for three accounts, but paying $60/$45 monthly for a game is just absurd in my own opinion (i understand if you disagree, but I'm in University - not much $).

Can someone explain to me what CCP is doing to attract new players? I know that Eve has a fairly low/average player-base compared to newer games, but wouldn't it be fair to think that something would be done to help us catch up (at least a little-bit) if we put in hours and hours of playtime? Atm, I'm just enormously cockblocked by skilltimers, even though I play more than the majority of new/novice players (and perhaps even veterans) around.

I'm not saying this in an attention seeking way, and I'm not trying to antagonize white knights out there by saying this, but what exactly does Eve have for people like me? With other Space Sandbox games coming out, would I be better off just playing those because of the fact that I joined Eve far too late?

I hope I can get some open minded responses, I'm honestly not trying to hurt anyone's feelings, I just want to know more about the Dev/Playerbase point of view on this serious issue when it comes to new players!