Parents divorced when I was 16 and I was sort of left to fend for myself. No abuse or trauma in a direct sense but I would wake up, no one would be at the house and I would drive myself to school at 17.
Tried community college after high school but was working 50 hours as a fast food manager so that didn’t work as well as I planned. Eventually joined the military on a 5 year contract. When I got out I went back to community college, Theron was free and I got close to 2k per month stipend. Transferred to a UC for CS and graduated around 30.
Got a short term job and eventually ended up at a large Silicon Valley tech company.
It was a late start but I feel like I got to see a snapshot of society that none of my peers have seen, especially the American born ones. The immigrants mostly have unique paths of their own that are interesting.
GI bill was truly awesome and helped me achieve a salary and position I never thought possible for me.