My answer is no. The attention economy has closed off a route that was available as recently as a decade ago.
Background: I came across an unusually patient and helpful answer by adsy on StackOverflow, which led me to this article.
After reading it, it struck me that the way people first experience computers and programming has transformed in the last 20 years.
adsy got into programming the early 2000s. The dot-com bubble had burst. Social media and the i-phone were yet to come. Computers were still a relatively niche interest. It was still possible for people to tinker with things, get better, and slide into programming.
By the 2020s (when I started), smartphones were a daily staple. The attention economy was in full swing. The Silicon Valley was already a well-beaten track to (lasting) fame and fortune. The 4-hour week was already old news and everyone was busy with their side-hustles.
It stands to reason that the skills and habits needed to get started in the new normal is different from the past.
In the 2000s, it was possible to get into computing just by tinkering and experimentation. But now there is so much that one could tinkle with, it is easy to lose the way.
Worst, “building things” has now become a key social signal (among tech circles). Any private enjoyment of making things is now intertwined with some kind of social positioning with influencers of different kinds.
With so much choice (and advertisement) in front of us, just tinkering without conscious planning may not be good enough.