[nerdponx]

He also seems like he got lucky starting in a constructive and productive work environment. If you don't have this level of support and opportunity in your first couple of years in industry, you're in for a much harder time. Partly because you don't learn as much, partly because you don't build as many connections, and partly because you end up learning bad habits that you need to unlearn later. Obviously a good start isn't everything, but it makes a tremendous difference, and it's almost impossible to understand if you've never seen what a bad start can be like.