As a young programmer, I cannot be more lucky than this. Right now, you can learn virtually any programming language (such as Python), online, so the fact that I'm not old enough to get a college degree doesn't matter.
I now know COBOL.
I've always known COBOL; before I knew linux, I knew COBOL.
not sure how that effects my mentality be, but, I would say that it's lack of structurability has rubbed off on me largely.