I found school really difficult as an adolescent. I struggled at everything and nothing made sense. But it did prepare me for the working world.

Some people are just good at learning, at school. Like I would show up to every class, every lab, take notes paraphrased by hand, rewrite them out again on my own, ask questions after class, make flash cards… Then I have this distinct memory of drilling a classmate who had missed a bunch of classes and were in a bad way, and… They got a much better score than me. Some people make it look so easy… I wish.

Anyway, that’s all to say not everyone has your gifts. I’m also a programmer which is thankfully lucrative, so it was worth it. But it’s never been easy for me, or I imagine many other people.