In high school, my friend and I realized you could program TI-84 graphing calculators. We made really simple games (guess a number from 1-100, hangman, etc.). I didn't even realize I was programming at the time.
I was also influenced by my dad (he was a software engineer, so I wanted to try it too). First formal education was an AP computer science course in 12th grade.
I was into math/puzzles/logical stuff at that time, so a lot of the initial concepts that you have to learn were both easier for me to pick up and more interesting (compared against someone who knows what they want to build, but views the intermediate knowledge/skills as something they have to slog through).
> What is your experience with university?
MIT, CS degree. Both the degree and the brand name helped with finding work.
In practice, it's hard for me to identify explicit things I learned during school that have also been applicable and useful at work. I suspect that the most useful learnings weren't part of any syllabus (e.g. fluency with a language).
> How did you get your first paid work?
Internship, through which I received a full-time offer.
> What do you do now and what do you love/hate about your job?
Currently funemployed, but previously an engineering manager.
The fun part is when the team's work comes together and produces a result.
The not fun part is when my line of thinking doesn't line up with someone else's. It is sometimes (often?) frustrating for me to debug why our approaches differ, then figure out how to make progress from there.