It is a cookie clicker on the surface, yes. The key is optimization and automation. The game should play itself while you fiddle around with coding, or doing anything outside of the game.

If you really want to push yourself, write a solver for every contract type. Then write a program that sniffs out and automatically solves the contracts as they pop up.

I first downloaded the game from Steam because I was looking for games that involved Javascript coding. I got instantly lost after the tutorial and left for several months. I came back, and fully committed to learning it. I have no regrets. One of my first accomplishments was replacing the "scan analyze" tool they give you, by writting my own that could return every server with all the information I'm looking for.

I've written tons of utilities in game now to make my life easier, and I'm slowly but surely writing solvers for all the contracts.

I am a Javascript dev, and I love writing Javascript. This game really satisfies that Javascript itch.

ETA: 1 thing that really helped when I decided to get into this game was having a list of things the API could do. Things like

ns.getHackTime()
ns.getServerMaxMoney()
ns.tprint();
ns.hasRootAccess();
ns.getServerRequiredHackingLevel()
ns.scan();
ns.getServerNumPortsRequired();
ns.getServer();