The thing about IRC is that it’s not really “real time”. A lot of the time people are “idling” - just sitting in the channel, not doing much. We’ve got quite a big channel, so most of the time there’s active conversation and people available to help… but, sometimes, there are not. And, if there are people talking, they might not be able to help with your specific problem. There’s a lot of great talent and helpful people in IRC. If you’re patient, somebody will, eventually, help you with your problem. If nobody is available, try a different hour.
That being said, some problems are very specific/niche and not many encounter them. Obscure mobile bugs or deep rendering pipeline issues, for instance, are generally beyond the scope of most people’s experience and you may be out of luck without help from actual Epic employees.
I’ve been in the channel for about 4 months now and I’ve learned quite a bit from the conversations and random problems people come up with. There’s no better place to learn the intricacies of UE4.