Should I get rid of knives with German steel?

Hi all, new to the forums here, just been reading a bit about German steel, the apparent superiority of Japanese cutlery, &c. Have been working in a restaurant using super-dull house knives, and am moving into a more up-scale place and am interested in furthering my career cooking, so I thought it good to buy a few knives. I bought 3 Zwilling Henckels knives, an 8.5" chef's knife, a 6" utility knife, and a paring knife. It's sounding like I may have made a too hasty choice in purchasing. I figure I'll be using these on my station for the next year or so as I learn more in the kitchen, but is taking a water stone class (or simply practicing at home), and buying Japanese made knives really the best move here? I obviously want to use the best tools possible. Will continue to read and do my best to research on my own, but would be grateful for any direction and advice to make a more informed knife choice that will perform and last me the rest of my career. Also bought a Zwilling Henckels steel honing rod that I've been running my blades along at roughly 12-15 degree strokes, is this correct practice? Or are the knives in fact beveled at an angle closer to 20? I read somewhere that it doesn't particularly matter what exact angle the bevel is when honing, but am skeptical. Thanks for your advice, sorry for noobyness.