I'm in the "it just happened" category. I went to the University for Spanish. Screwed up horribly --not drinking, but working 45 hours a week, living off campus, and trying to fit 15 credits into an already full life. I ended up at the Technical School a few years later, needing to be trained in something, and I simply flipped the pages and picked one. I knew how to type and use my email...barely. 2 1/2 years later, I had an Associate Degree and stepped into my new line of work -- Software Engineer. Programming wasn't ever anything I thought I would "grow-up" to do. But as it turns out, I'm pretty good at it. In my book, it's just another language -- and language is my thing. The problem with language, is that if you don't use it, you lose it. It's been 13 years since I've read or spoken Spanish. I'm not very good at that anymore. I think it really comes down to motivation. Interest maybe...but my motivation to succeed went further for me than any kind of passion for programming, because I was the epitome of "newbie".
"Is it normal to hear 'My server doesn't work. Did you rebuild the database?' " - quotes from old work places lead to the most interesting conversations....