I got interested in quantum computing because I like computing already (compsci degree) but also because I have an interest in natural philosophy. Answering the question of “what is nature?” obviously requires the input of physics and if you don’t know at least introductory quantum information science then you will not be able to follow along with many important papers on this topic (Bell’s theorem, the Frauchiger-Renner Paradox, the Elitzur-Vaidman paradox, etc). Learning to program for quantum computers gives you an understanding of the overall logical structure of how quantum systems work which then makes it pretty easy to understand those kinds of papers.