I don't think DHH is the kind of guy who "coasted or just ran the rat race", but he's said before that he never really got into programming until he was in his

I don't think DHH is the kind of guy who "coasted or just ran the rat race", but he's said before that he never really got into programming until he was in his twenties. He famously went on to create Rails, and become a partner at 37signals. I think what you're asking the community for here is permission to be awesome. Sure, Gates and Zuckerberg are the kind of guys that were super-smart and super-successful early in life, and they're often talked about as models for success. However that doesn't mean that if you haven't changed the world by the time you're 21, you're somehow destined to die bitter and alone on a scrapheap of broken dreams.