I also taught myself how to program at a younger age.

You'll be surprised how hard this is for many people. I was surprised by how many really struggled through the first introductory programming course in university.

Math isn't that hard. But for almost everyone it requires a lot of work to get to the next level. Some of the same skills transfer. Something too removed from where you are feels very alien, partly because of language, symbols, conventions, etc. and also not having the building blocks/theories etc.

Math/physics/engineering/programming rely on similar skills but need somewhat different attitudes. I know people who are great at advanced math (especially earlier generations) but don't think about it computationally at all, and their code is very messy. On the other hand I know great programmers who just don't like to think in terms of proofs and dislike the ambiguous and vague nature of math notation (yes, math is much more vague and handwavy in notation compared to its reputation, especially compared to programming). And there are people who love programming as a kind of puzzle and like prodding it for its own sake, pursuing elegance and will get nerdsniped for weeks if you teach them about quines, while others just love building things and whatever gets them there doesn't matter too much.

Don't sell yourself short, programming is just as difficult as math. I'm confident saying if you are able to code you would also be able to learn pretty advanced math.

It's a silly sort of comparison. Is reaching the programming competence necessary to hold an average software engineering job easier than attaining a PhD in mathematics? Yes, 100%. Is becoming a well-regarded software engineer by building large, complex systems or contributing significantly to projects like the Linux Kernel easier than getting to the top of your field in academic mathematics (tenured professor, high-impact papers)? I don't think so, or at least, it's not obvious to me that one is more "difficult" than the other. They take different skills and personalities, and I don't think that talent in one would necessarily translate to talent in the other.

> average software engineering job easier than attaining a PhD in mathematics

This isn't what I'm trying to say, I'm just saying that someone that can become good at programming could become good at advanced mathematics. If your criteria for good in advanced math is a phd then we disagree.

> They take different skills and personalities

I disagree, I think the skills are largely the same. Programming is literally encoding logic using a programming language which requires mathematical reasoning ability. Programming is more immediately practical, accessible and requires fewer credentials and that's why I think more people become good at it than math.

That depends on what being good means.

I have absolutely no problem being a 10x developer. While I might be a better than average developer I am not more than 10x more talented than my peers.

I have no problem achieving 10x status because I ask better questions and loathe doing repetitive work, especially out of social conformance. It completely blows my mind that most people strive first for emotional comfort, especially amongst a social reference group. Any effort moving in the opposite direction of that emotional comfort results in fear and possibly anxiety.

That is why I abhor software as a career. As a dumb soldier I feel like I am the least educated in the room and my delivery is inversely proportional to that. That is because, as a dumb soldier, I focus first on delivery. Focusing on delivery first means knowing the end state and cutting out all the bullshit in the middle. Military people think like that because they are highly assertive. The average software developer is meek.

Can you see the friction that follows? You have this dumb guy with less education that is a 10x developer but not because they are better at writing software. Nonetheless the output executes much faster with greater durability written in a fraction of the time only because of a difference in value system. That leaves the dumb soldier believing they are surrounded by a bunch of cowards.

learned to code pretty easily. the rapid feedback was key vs math where you do a problem set and it might be days before the graded assignment is returned. I found mathacademy 2 months ago an its been a game changer for me. I just completed the first of their foundations course and it filled in a bunch of cracks in my foundational knowledge I didn't realize I had. the big advantage is that you do the problem and you get feedback immediately. They figured out how to close the loop on feedback to make learning it efficient.