I disagree, whether a young developer have projects to show before college is near irrelevant to if they'll become a better developer as a professional. It does

I disagree, whether a young developer have projects to show before college is near irrelevant to if they'll become a better developer as a professional. It doesn't automatically translate to self motivated, the only thing it shows is the candidate has early exposure to some technology. To my experience most people start programming from a young age are because they have family members in this profession and were asked to learn programming from a young age. I'm not saying there aren't any really due to interest and motivation, I just haven't met any yet. To me whether you start programming before college is like graduate from Stanford, you may or may not be good, it will make me more likely to interview you, but not more likely to give you the job.