The first category is the one that I’d like to think I fall under. They’re what I call the “5th grade coders”. These programmers were given a computer at a young age and have been playing around with it ever since. I can connect with them easily around getting our first computer, doing FIRST robotics, or working part-time during high school making websites. These are the types of people who breeze through their undergraduate CS education and have been working at tech companies since they were ~18. They don’t have to put a ton of effort into learning new languages, picking up different theories, because it is second-nature. In some ways, this group of people just got really lucky early on in their life in that they were given a computer and enjoyed building things.

I definitely fall under this type of programmer. Started learning Logo at 9 years old, Pascal from 10 onward. Worked part-time in high school as a web developer, worked a lot as a CS undergrad.

But I most certainly didn't breeze through my CS education. In fact I flunked out[1]. Hell, I almost flunked out of high school as well because I spent so much time coding.

[1] I have two exams and a thesis to go, but at this point it's doubtful I'll ever bother.