I'm 27 years old (am I still young?) and started self teaching 2 years ago. I'm creating an API for poets/poetry because it doesn't exist. I'm implementing my own API to serve the poems and let users metaphorically match their favorite poems to their favorite alcoholic beverages; poetryandalcohol.com (not up yet). I'm also working on something similar to Yummly and BigOven, however, not only let's users plan their meals, but incorporates the USDA food prices API to let them know how much their grocery list will be for the week or whatever.

I have no reminiscing to do. The internet has ALWAYS been a resource for me. But in different ways.

The feat this gentleman has made is no less than that of twenty years ago. You still need a degree to get an entry level job of the same sort as ten years ago. In fact, I'd argue that twenty years ago, people didn't care if you had a degree or not in computer science, so long as you had the experience/could prove you can do the work. Today, it's not only a degree/experience, which this person has BARELY showed (aw crap, I forgot he's 19), but you also need side projects, open source contributions, and a penchant for motivation. I'd say it's still torture for us self-taughts who work in a warehouse 9-5 filling orders for computer fans at a median wage.