You're still young, and have an enormous amount of time ahead of you that you can put to good use, if you have the motivation and discipline. If you begin getti

You're still young, and have an enormous amount of time ahead of you that you can put to good use, if you have the motivation and discipline. If you begin getting serious about developing yourself now, and devote your efforts towards reading, learning, traveling, gaining experiences, and otherwise becoming a more informed and well-rounded person, by the time you're 30 you'll be way ahead of most people of that age. I'm 43 right now, and I still have an immense passion for learning new things. I love exploring new concepts or going over ones I've previously learnt in more depth, and that includes areas of computer science (both related to my career and not), as well studying music as a hobby. The wonderful thing about life is that there's always more to learn and discover, and that it's never too late to start. I hope to continue learning until the day I die. Everyone is different, so I can't say what specifically what you should do, but I can say there's nothing to be gained by regretting the past. It's actually not that big a deal since lots of people don't make good use of that time, and anyone trying to compare themselves to John Carmack is being unfair on themselves. My point is the only thing that matters is what you do from here. Figure out what you want to explore and go for it.