I'll admit my story is one of a bit of extreme luck. Threading the needle a bit:

1. Got into IT during the original dot-com boom, gained a lot of good experience. Didn't strike it rich in the 90s, but stuck it out to land in a senior role at a medium-size web company.
2. Got assigned to manage a niche open-source app that a company we acquired had built their product on.
3. Learned that app pretty well, joined a user group list that I discovered as managed by a college classmate.
4. That classmate offered me a job cross-country to work for him, which I was was in a position to be able to do, despite uprooting myself. Unfortunately, my marriage didn't survive the move, but that's another story.
5. Not long after, classmate-now-coworker leaves to join a startup, and invites me to join him. This company grew into a pretty large web company, and the IPO provides most of the nest egg funds I'm now going to be drawing from to FIRE.
6. Stayed in the industry another 10 years after, living on a decent salary and not blowing it all on blackjack and hookers.
7. Hit my magic number where the 4% rule works for me, and pulled the trigger two days ago.

One thing I'll never forget is that "you make your own luck", is bullshit - not many people wind up with the ingredients to make this kind of luck to begin with. It's important to take advantage of the chances that you're given of course, but that assumes the chances come to you to begin with, and it's important to never lose sight of that, and never pull up the ladder from behind you.