Honestly, I only made it out (I was probabbly not going to make it through college due to all the work and my own personality when I was young was NOT ready for college) because I got lucky, had some mild technical skills and the .com era came along and companies wanted warm bodies.

I picked some aged old company and they hired me. That company stuck around for a long enough time to establish a career.

Working pizza ... could easily have kept me down due to that and other challenges.