I don't think we should assume that teenagers being able to self-teach something makes those skills "easy". When we hear stories like those the reaction tends

I don't think we should assume that teenagers being able to self-teach something makes those skills "easy". When we hear stories like those the reaction tends to be "damn that must be a really smart kid". I don't see any reason why equally smart kids couldn't teach themselves medicine, just as many professional sports players, artists, musicians, mathematicians, etc, tend to start playing from a very young age. Some external differentiators seem to be "access to learning materials" and "regulation of access to a profession". As an example for that second point: there is absolutely a level of professional and personal maturity I expect from a doctor, that I don't expect the tech industry to screen for. Though I'm also not suggesting the current student -> doctor pipeline is ideal either.