That's interesting.

With me, the main obstacle was I hadn't studied enough computing related terms. I mean, in hindsight it seems easy to compile a program from a git repository, to understand the principles of bitcoin mining, I just remember it all seeming overwhelming, I was probably a bit late for cpu mining but also couldn't find any notable exchange. Guess you also get side-tracked when you are employed full-time and you're not learning anything useful. It took about 4 years to get there!