As a rookie/indie dev/hobbist, are the videos from the GDC Vault worth paying the yearly subscription fee? Will I learn anything worth the roughly~$500 fee?

I know you can get access for free with certain purchased passes to the GDC event, but I don't feel I'm at the level to yet attend.

I know some of the videos are up on a youtube channel. I've seen a few and have learned a bit

My fear is that they've already put the _good_ videos from the Vault onto youtube, and paying for full access would leave me with out-dated and irrelevant videos.

edit: removed redundant comment

I tend to find myself in the same predicament as you. There are usually 3-8 videos a year that I want to watch from GDC Vault , previously I wanted to get the Destiny GDC Vault Videos , which luckily have both been released for free. While I learned a bit from one of them, I definitely would of been disappointed if I spend $500.. While I believe it's important to support things you want, I still haven't personally seen enough from the videos released for me to validate spending that much money on the ones behind a pay wall.

I would say they're not worth it.

Unless there are a number of non-free videos you're sure you want to watch, or unless you're getting access bundled with something else (such as a GDC pass as you mention) I would say it's very likely not worthwhile. There's a LOT of great content freely available, and they'll continue to release more over time.

If you do know that there are multiple videos it may be worthwhile to you (we can't make that judgment on your behalf!) to buy access; you'll likely find other paid-only videos that you'll enjoy or find beneficial, and you won't need to wait for free access that may take quite some time or not happen at all. Ultimately, you need to decide how much you value seeing those videos, and consider the opportunity cost of spending the money -- what else could you spend it on that may be more beneficial or enjoyable?