My parents really wanted me to find an obsession as a teen. By the time I was in high school, my parents were fretting that I didn't have an obsession except for doing well all-around in school, so, they proceeded to tell me what they believed I couldn't do successfully. This ruled out everything except for computers. Ironically, my dad didn't understand how anybody could be passionate about computers, and considered it an to be easy field for mediocre people without an obsession.
I still don't really have an obsession. Committing to a field feels so restrictive compared to reading about a variety of things. As a result, I haven't done very well professionally, but my dad, who was obsessed, didn't do well, either.
My programming story: I started with BASIC on an old pocket computer. I typed in games from a manual without really understanding how the code worked. In eighth grade, I programmed a bit in QBASIC in an informal computer class. Then, for years, I didn't program much except for a formula on my TI-82. I never learned the TI-82 programming language well enough to do anything more complex.
Towards the end of high school, I got Internet access and learned HTML to build a web page. I took AP Computer Science (in C++) in my senior year and scored 5 on the exam. I majored in computer science at a top math/science university that isn't as well-known for CS as some other schools. I turned down some of the higher ranked CS schools, which was probably a mistake, especially as I wasn't even that interested in the other sciences. I'm more into languages, and I was interested in CS because of its creative and entrepreneurial potential.
Fast forward to now: I started programming early and majored in CS, and I can write classes, objects, and functions, but I still don't really "get" programming. My algorithms course in college was all math and proofs that I didn't really understand. I've since gone through algorithm MOOCs and implemented some algorithms, but I still can't really apply them. My work involves some programming, but more of it is Linux administration. (I also don't really get how to deal with hardware because of my problems with anything physical.)
I've replied to Amazon recruiters. I did one phone interview with them, and another time, I sent my resume to the recruiter as requested and never heard anything back. For me, at least, it seems that getting hired is hard.
I graduated from college 13 years ago and feel the same way. I've taken an extremely passive route -- I never even left the college -- and have only taken the path of least resistance. I learn things on my own, but they're so unfocused that I don't do anything with them.
I still don't really have an obsession. Committing to a field feels so restrictive compared to reading about a variety of things. As a result, I haven't done very well professionally, but my dad, who was obsessed, didn't do well, either.