Same boat here. High school dropout, semi-professional musician &#x2F; food-service worker, then got my CS degree at age 27.<p>Being on both sides is interesting, and in some ways I&#x27;m thankful I lived off a low without even a high school degree just for the life experience. I still ride the same bicycle, drive the same car, etc. I try not to forget how much a dollar is worth but it can be hard sometimes.<p>My life back then was far harder and far more stressful. It&#x27;s hard being in front of people (food service worker) and dealing with customers for a lot of us -- it takes an emotional toll. I have a fairly lax schedule now and make almost eight times as much money. I hope that someday  anyone can make a living wage if they work hard, whether they flip burgers or write enterprise Java spaghetti code.