That said, my main disagreement was with your comment, College is probably too late to learn the fundamental techniques and mindset of programming - this was very reminiscent of the dialogue many religious groups will say about instilling church fundamentals, hence the reason I used the word 'indoctrinated', along with its connotations. As for the mindset of programming, there are many fields who are surprisingly close to the needed mindset, and still, it may be largely a personal matter in as much as some person will have the needed mindset no matter the field they choose.
I certainly have no argument over the amount of time needed to learn programming, and definitely agree that starting in college is much more difficult. It is just that I have been impressed by late learners to programming who came from other fields (mathematics/physics/economics being some of the best to draw from), and as such I can not underestimate the ability of another who came to programming later in life.
Have a nice weekend.
If it's anything beyond the sheer amount of time, it's that 1) people who don't teach themselves will probably be at a disadvantage given how much new material regularly needs to be learned, and 2) there is likely a window during which time picking up new skills is easier. Learning programming is probably analogous to learning a musical instrument, a new language, etc., in that people seem to pick things up more quickly if they start while fairly young. While learning a new API or something once you've been programming for a while is largely a matter of time, but there are Big Ideas that need to be learned upfront. I didn't mean to imply that it's impossible to learn them, just that it's harder.