Bitcoin mining has been questionable profit-wise for the last year or so unless you have minimal upfront cost and a solar/renewable source of energy.
I'm more inclined to mine obscure altcoins and give them a go, but that's me, I like a little bit of fun and uncertainty (doesn't have to be high stakes though).
Dude, over the last 2 years the Bitcoin network hashrate has doubled
https://www.blockchain.com/explorer/charts/hash-rateHave you looked at the earnings reports of major mining companies before writing this post?
If the investments were questionable, we wouldn't see such growth on the charts.
That's a completely different context IMHO (major mining companies), as per the OP, we're talking about a scenario of a single user having a machine or two "for fun."