Sorry not read all the reply's but to answer the question, depends really.
I can't afford a home lab or even a cloud lab, but that doesn't stop me learning "out of hours". Example if i wanted to learn something new and don't have time at work i'm happy to spin up a VM or two on my laptop with Virtual Box get them working then transfer to the test server at work that i can remote into to carry on testing later.
Would i hire someone yes i would, as long as the are keen to learn and willing to play at home as me even on a Virtual Box or similar that would do for me 