I got into IT 30 years ago without going to university. I just had absolutely no clue of what I was going to do at university when I finished school because too many things interested me AND I was SO sick of school by that time.
With too many interests in just about everything, like Balaam's Ass, I did nothing. I drifted around doing all manner of low skilled work living the underachiever's dream. Eventually, I ended up taking some aptitude tests and doing well enough to out perform university graduates and get a graduate trainee position in IT.
I started to notice that a) I was pretty good at this b) I enjoyed it because it was like being paid to do puzzles c) I was being passed over for promotions because I 'had not been through the Mill'. It was at that point that I went to university and good a jolly good thing it was too because I met my wife there ;-)
