I'm 36, but to be fair even in late 90s when we were kids we had

1) Forums like askanexper(can't remember the exact name) 2) great books like sams teach yourself in 24 hours and a habit to spend time in library 3) most importantly not as much competition as we have today. There were like a 2-3 kids in my schools of 2k who were into programming. Today that would be approaching half.