I started programming in VB after having dabbled in old school C64 Basic and some Pascal. I had zero experience and knew I wanted to be a developer one day. I got turned down from one place (a help desk job) for being "too ambitious" when I said I really wanted to get into development some day.

I started in help desks, took some skills tests so recruiters could pitch me to shitty consulting gigs, and worked my way up through professional services and eventually into a fulltime dev role at real software shop with truly talented developers.

I definitely wasn't handrolling assembler in my teen years (or ever), but I've been able to make a great living by scratching and clawing my way in!