I started learning programming concepts at 11-12

The association with video games in your last paragraph makes a lot of sense to me. This is how I feel solving problems. I always thought that people who start at 12 and keep at it are good because they really love it.I see people who struggle a lot with learning, and it's because they hate it but are doing it for other reasons.

That childhood native-fluency analogy is insightful! Your experience matches mine. I started programming at age 7 and it's true that the way code forms in my head feels similar to the way words form when I'm writing or speaking in English. In the same way that I don't stop and consciously figure out whether to use the past or present tense while I'm talking, I usually don't consciously think about, say, what kind of looping construct I'm about to use; it's just the natural-feeling way to express the idea I'm trying to convey. The idea itself is kind of already in the form of mental code in the same way that my thoughts are kind of already in English if I'm speaking. But... maybe that's how it is for everyone, even people who learned later? I only know how it is in my own head.

> Most people will only ever be able to speak a language as fluently as a native speaker if they learn it before they're about 13-14 years old. Very few people both have a ton of exposure to a language and actually study the grammar and stuff as adults. If you don't learn the grammar you will still speak like a dog after living in a country for 20 years. A lot of people in an average company don't write hard things at their job, didn't read any textbooks etc. and spend loads of time in meetings etc.