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This all started back in childhood - you mentioned nature and nurture - my parents let me have the run of the family library such as it was. They figured that if the book was too advanced I would simply put it back. When I outgrew the town schoolhouse I had to commute by train to another high school.
Dad had retired (I was the youngest and they married late in life) so I could not see the expense of train fare and school fees, so I quit. After a few jobs I wound up with Bell. Spent 13 years in toll and local plant, then I heard they were looking for computer geeks. Borrowed some books on computers from the company library and read up on them. Now these were the days of the big room filling Univacs and IBM 1410s, the IBM360 was just around the corner. Iknew there were such things but that was about it.
I asked my boss to send me in for the computer test, now they said they wanted people with a degree or who were working toward one, but he sent me anyway. Two weeks later they requested me and my boss let me go even though I was slated to do the acceptance tests on a new switch system.
Through various training courses the all kept saying fancy things about me until they finally convinced me to do the Mensa test. That was when the numbers put me just over the edge into the 99th percentile. Whoopee s**t, that and $5 will get you a latte at Starbucks.
Never put that on my resume as I found people did not think highly of it, I did get elected to full membership in the IEEE despite the lack of a degree, they even suggested I apply for senior membership (must have been the grey hair).
The 12 years I spent working on International Standards with ITU and ISO did get me a decent living doing seminars around NorAm and Europe, even got to Israel once. The Europeans have a different attitude as they always asked if I was bringing my wife along so we did quite a bit of travelling together, in fact I think Florence knows Geneva better than I do. Speaking several languages as she does she was never taken for an American, and a lot of people figured she was either from Spain or Italy (parents were both) and me for some Nordic type. I recall one Swiss that we met who claimed he knew all about the United States as he subscribed to Time, was awful hard to keep a straight face.
Sandy, the in-your-face feminists never thrilled me either, I simply figure that as half the population is female you would be shooting yourself in the foot if you did not let them contribute their considerable talents to the nation. You and I happen to be married to ladies of talent so we know this.
Geez, who got me started on this?
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