I taught myself C when I was a freshman in high school. I just picked up a book because it sounded fun. When I discovered that Linux had so many free tools for programming when compared to Windows or macOS, I began exploring that in support of this new hobby.
Eventually, I realized that I loved using Linux because it encouraged me to figure out how hardware and software components were working in order to get the computer to do what I wanted. I've loved tinkering all my life, and between C, C++, and Linux, you can tinker with tinker with every single detail!