"It worked for me, I don't see why it wouldn't work for everyone".

As a fellow, "did bad in school, but still doing well compared to my peers" person, I think you are ignoring a lot of the subtle benefits you had in life.

For instance, I grew up with six siblings, and at times not only did I have to share a room with 5 of them, I needed to share a bed with my brother. My parents divorced when I was young as well, which takes away a lot of stability and resources for a child.

Despite this, I still had massive advantages compared to my peers. My grandfather worked with computers at a university, and that trickled down to me always having access to a computer. My dad was an early adopter of home Internet access, I had cable broadband in the house at least since 2000, and DSL/dial-up way before that. I had both parents, and although they were not very collaborative while raising me, I still got some benefit of having them both. My interpersonal connections through my siblings helped me land a decent retail job, and from there I was able to use connections from my dad to get my foot in the door in IT. I didn't grow up with much, but I sure as hell grew up with a lot more than many other people, and it's easy to forget that sometimes.