Yeah, not any more. Maybe in 1999 you could come in as a high school dropout and make an easy six figures since you truly were better at this "internet stuff" than the vast majority of the older IT folks.
I doubt we're in for another massive technology shift like that though in our lifetimes where toys turn into business tools exceedingly rapidly. AI is about the only one I could think of, and the barrier of entry there is far higher than the $150k/yr 17 year old webdev job of olde.
They were outliers, but they certainly existed within my friends group. Those that built independent websites/marketing/etc. did even better, and built rather good careers out of them over time. Many are now retired or semi-retired in their 30's.
Those doors have since been firmly slammed shut though by those who came afterwards, now you are gated by the HR dragons from most jobs.
It was a unique point in tech history I doubt will be re-created, but it's easy for those who lived it to think things are still like that. I got lucky to experience that and "come up" at the right time being interested in the right things. Today I'd have zero chances being unable to afford college. The competition is much more fierce as well.
I doubt we're in for another massive technology shift like that though in our lifetimes where toys turn into business tools exceedingly rapidly. AI is about the only one I could think of, and the barrier of entry there is far higher than the $150k/yr 17 year old webdev job of olde.
They were outliers, but they certainly existed within my friends group. Those that built independent websites/marketing/etc. did even better, and built rather good careers out of them over time. Many are now retired or semi-retired in their 30's.
Those doors have since been firmly slammed shut though by those who came afterwards, now you are gated by the HR dragons from most jobs.
It was a unique point in tech history I doubt will be re-created, but it's easy for those who lived it to think things are still like that. I got lucky to experience that and "come up" at the right time being interested in the right things. Today I'd have zero chances being unable to afford college. The competition is much more fierce as well.