At 14 I learned to code for "free" - minus very expensive computer m y parents bought and a pirated copy of turbo pascal and computer magazines. Magazines and books were not as good but remember Internet made some other resources disappear or rendered them less visible.
I'm a milllenial that learned how to code at 14 using the internet. To be fair to your point about "free" I did use pirated software and a few pirated video courses