This was in 1998 for me, and at that age I didn't know how to push back on my parents. Good 'ol Asian parents didn't know anything out of the big 3 (Doctor, Lawyer, [Licensed] Engineer). Still going to therapy for that.

I am now in a software engineering job as a TL but I'd say I'm about 8 years behind in my SWE career, after soujourns in a microbiology lab, food manufacturing, retail inventory planning, and then product management in retail, and then to engineering. To be fair, this might still be the case as the dot-com implosion happened just before I graduated from college.

I have amazing, varied experience as both an IC and people manager, but I don't have the ticket known as a CS degree. I'm thankful for the path I've taken but eventually I will have to make a jump to a "real" tech company, and I can't say that I don't have some apprehension about my lack of formal CS training, as well as age.