The concept here is encouraging, but at the same time a bit disheartening when I consider how many of my peers have recently graduated or will soon graduate wit

The concept here is encouraging, but at the same time a bit disheartening when I consider how many of my peers have recently graduated or will soon graduate with expensive, decreasingly valuable degrees in subjects they love, but will have difficulty securing employment with. For instance, I have a good friend studying history right now who has recently taken up programming in an effort to spruce up his resume. I can't help but think "Why so late? Why didn't anyone nudge you in that direction when you were younger?" I know my parents wanted me to truly understand new technologies, not just interact with them, so coding was an integral part of my life from an early age, but I fear many more parents probably saw the rate at which software was advancing and the promise of the internet and thought "Well, programming probably isn't that important anymore" (assuming, of course, that they had any opinion on programming at all). He's a bright guy, so he'll be fine, but the fact that so many people my age will likely need to spend much longer acquiring and honing these skills (if they even bother to try) than children of the iGeneration is a bit depressing in the "Born just a bit too soon" sense.