“it was like my brain sucked it in like a vacuum cleaner- and I immediately started college and ended up with 3 degrees in physics, computer science, and accounting.”
that’s an awesome and inspiring epiphany.
something similar happened to me: while taking the first two years of general engineering courses towards a four year engineering degree, Fortran 101 was one of the required courses. Engineering didn’t inspire me, but bells and light bulbs went off in my brain with the Fortran 101 course, and i switched majors to Computer Science and earned a BS degree in CS and then went on to earn an MS in CS, then went on to be employed first as a programmer, then a computer and network systems analyst, and then as a network engineer. I’m semi-retired, but still dabble with programming.
As a programming instructor while getting my MS, I recognized a few (very few) kids that instantly got it and were super-excited by the beginning programming courses. I realized that certain people have what i call the “programmer gene”.
Two of my best friends in the world were thrashing about early on, one as a long-haul truck diver, and the other as a dope-smoker and pizza maker; they both saw how excited i was a programmer, and it inspired both to go to junior colleges and get Associate degrees in IT. Turns out both of them had the programmer gene, and both went on to make excellent livings doing things they really loved until they finally reached retirement age.
**Two of my best friends in the world were thrashing about early on, one as a long-haul truck diver,.....**
Wow! Long haul trucks dives! I suppose they ran off of a road into lakes or rivers, or maybe fell off bridges on the coast? Trucks haul all kinds of stuff, but i wouldn’t be interested in diving on one that had............ oh..... never mind,..... I see the typo.