She had the experience, education, skill, and drive to succeed when she was put in the right place at the right time. I was with (1) mostly referring to education, skill, and drive.

But also If you were a PhD in math in 1934 and wanted to switch to computers, then you were not "competing" with a bunch of people who'd been doing computers since they were 5, because nobody had.

Parent post said she went to computers in ~1945, which is just two years after "I think there's a world market for maybe five computers".

None of that is transferrable to just anybody's career change decision.

With (1) I could have also said that Ricky Gervais went into comedy at close to 40 years old. But you're not Ricky Gervais, so it's not likely to work out for you.

It's partly a lottery win, too, where you don't need certain life experiences to win.