I can relate to some of that. My dad, who was a programmer amongst other things, tried to get me interested in electronics, but it just never really caught on for me. Whereas programming I was pretty hooked from the start. I did lots of BASIC and Pascal. He tried to get me onto C, but I was reluctant, although I do remember him explaining pointers (I was maybe 10?) and it finally making sense. Most of the learning I did along the way was driven by me though, going to him when I got stuck.

Now I'm approaching 40 and a full time web developer.