I agree that learning takes place at a faster rate during childhood and that the non-autodidact will be at a disadvantage, especially in programming. That said

I agree that learning takes place at a faster rate during childhood and that the non-autodidact will be at a disadvantage, especially in programming. That said, my main disagreement was with your comment, College is probably too late to learn the fundamental techniques and mindset of programming - this was very reminiscent of the dialogue many religious groups will say about instilling church fundamentals, hence the reason I used the word 'indoctrinated', along with its connotations. As for the mindset of programming, there are many fields who are surprisingly close to the needed mindset, and still, it may be largely a personal matter in as much as some person will have the needed mindset no matter the field they choose. I certainly have no argument over the amount of time needed to learn programming, and definitely agree that starting in college is much more difficult. It is just that I have been impressed by late learners to programming who came from other fields (mathematics/physics/economics being some of the best to draw from), and as such I can not underestimate the ability of another who came to programming later in life.