Right, but these sort of narratives are rarely linear. In either case they would have been working compilers. At least in this version of events, they got to take a shot at a passion. They could also try again and have a roadmap and the courage to take a leap like that.
Or it opens up a third option that would not have been available otherwise.
Going on an adventure and finishing back where you started is not a bad result.
Probably not a fair judgement to make based on 4-5 short paragraphs in a HN comment.