No there is more than a little gain. With good technique and equipment (especially a good enlarger lens) the quality you can get from doing your own printing can be way better than any high street lab.

You can learn to dev and to print easily in a day. Then you keep on learning for life.

Yes you can teach yourself with a decent book, but it's probably easier to be shown, and to have someone you can ask questions.

I still make traditional contact sheets. If I am going to be printing anyway and so have the chemical trays out, it takes no longer than scanning. I also still make traditional prints, rather than inkjets. Like Beejaybee, I prefer the look of them, they are often cheaper and you can print bigger than A3 without it costing a fortune.