I believe the parent comment is implying that in every biography by someone who does something impressive, there are moments that show the environment they where in. Some things to note about the statement "I confided this to a colleague, and he suggested a lunch with him and the local C guru"
1. He had a colleague to speak to about this issue. This indicates he and the colleague had a relationship conducive to speaking about such problems, and was in a position to speak to him in the first place.
2. That colleague was engaged enough to want to hear more.
3. The colleague knew a "local C guru" and in turn had enough of a relationship with that guru to arrange a lunch between the three of them.
All of these things point to an environment that helps foster this kind of work. It shows that the author was hard working enough already to be in that position.
I don't know if others interpreted his statement to mean the same things, but that's what I have.
Note that experience was entirely negative. Nobody offered to help write any code, invest any money, do any marketing of any kind, etc.
Even after I wrote the compiler and was shipping it, a different colleague asked me one day: "Walter, I have a friend that needs a C compiler. Which one do you recommend?"
Me: "Why, mine (Datalight C), of course!"
Colleague, laughingly, "Not yours, Walter, a real compiler!"
A friend of mine, who was in earshot of this little exchange, thought it was most hilarious.
If you want to do things like this, you've got to have a pretty thick skin for this sort of "help" from your colleagues.
1. He had a colleague to speak to about this issue. This indicates he and the colleague had a relationship conducive to speaking about such problems, and was in a position to speak to him in the first place.
2. That colleague was engaged enough to want to hear more.
3. The colleague knew a "local C guru" and in turn had enough of a relationship with that guru to arrange a lunch between the three of them.
All of these things point to an environment that helps foster this kind of work. It shows that the author was hard working enough already to be in that position.
I don't know if others interpreted his statement to mean the same things, but that's what I have.