I disagree, the fact that im behind most in terms of SP is through my reluctance to purchase boosters with RL cash or invest in what is essentially a broken game, rather than my absence in an open /closed alpha /beta

There will always be someone who has more skill points than the next person in a ongoing game like this one. You need to stop thinking COD and start to realise that this game is a long run and will not reset every year.

Again. There will be new players joining in a year, two years and so on and all of them will be behind you in points and probably here on the forum crying over the same stuff as you are doing now.

If you focus on one weapon and one suit class with core skills, 2-3 million SP will get you in good enough shape to be competitive against players going full prototype. It may seem like you're never going to catch up, but after around 9-10 million, a player will be pretty much maxed out in one class and weapon/sidearm. SP really doesn't matter after that unless you're working on another role/weapon.
But with that said, the skill tree still needs some serious work. Basic suits are pretty redundant and for classes like logistics and scouts, it's an unnecessary, redundant SP sink. I haven't gotten my optional respec and until them, I'm stuck with a prototype medium frame Mk.0 that I never use. On top of that, there are still several skills that are just blank perquisites just to unlock other skills and equipment.. Even if they provide something like a CPU/PG reduction for equipping something or even a bonus to effects that certain items generate. For example, a level in nanocircuitry could add a bonus to 5% nanite clusters per level since they've been nerfed at standard level and there's no real difference at the advanced and prototype levels.