Not sure about the person you're directly asking but I have a similar sentiment for Red Hat Linux of the era.

I've been a Linux sysadmin since 1999. Every dollar I've paid for food and shelter since has been a direct result of what I learned getting Linux up and running on a PC and dialed up (later connected via Ethernet/Cable Modem) to the internet.

I have no clue what I would have done otherwise. I'd probably be working in Public Health or recently unemployed from the EPA by the Trumps Doge Squad.

I got my PC in 1996, replacing my 1990 Amstrad CPC. I was contributing to free software projects a little over a year or so later, working full time customizing free software in house by 2001, made a short film about GNU in 2007 and a consultant at the FSF by 2008.

Introduced me to Linux. Nobody on the school playground had even heard of it. Helped fuel my lifelong interest in computers. The Linux and tech experience contributed to my current role.

Probably try to find something that hasn’t been around forever and seems solid but doesn’t have a huge contributor base.

I have never been paid to write code, and my formal CS education is limited to AP Computer Science, and a one-credit Java class in college. But like 2OEH8eoCRo0, I can say that Red Hat Linux changed my life. Experience running Linux from kernel 1.2.13/Red Hat Linux 2.1 onward at home, and contributing small bits of code to a project or two (and RPMs to community repos), got me into a career at Wall Street after college, covering hardware and software companies (including RHAT) as an equity analyst during and after the dotcom bubble.