I start programming below college age as well. I also have some friends who learned programming by themselves. The major difference I can tell between those (us

I start programming below college age as well. I also have some friends who learned programming by themselves. The major difference I can tell between those (used to be) young programmers and those who started programming in college is their motivation and passion. Those who started programming as boys/girls usually learned it by themselves and were motivated by curiosity. Knowledge can be learned, experience can be accumulated. But the passion of learning things almost defines one's behaviour. I saw too many people don't want to learn new things because they simply don't like to learn. Sorry, a little bit OT.