The class that includes Edison and Jobs is the class that wins the recognition and respect of the general public, including my 80 year old aunt who has never used an Apple product. I guess of doesn't really matter though, if the luminaries and some of their fans choose not to care what the public thinks. The nice thing about choosing your own definition of success is that we can congratulate both Jobs and Woz for their success even though they reached incredibly divergent outcomes and there is no way they could have ever both reached the same point.

Wozniak would never have become a millionaire without a salesman like Jobs.

The greatest hacker will never overcome economics.

Any mass-production or limited-resource system will be relatively more beneficial to someone than someone else, and there are many incompatible but defensible ways to measure benefit.

My parents moved to one of the wealthier (per-household) cities in America (not the wealthiest neighborhood; they had a professional services small business on the high end of work-for-a-living income from paying customers, and a few assistants in their employ) and my seemingly ordinary high school was one of the best neighborhood schools in the country in terms of student performance, non-crime, etc.

One could certainly raise a family in that school zone on an engineer and teacher's salary if one would forgo a big house and new car lifestyle.

Are you sure about the amount of opportunity, though? Maybe ten other people tried what you did but never found the right part or book that made the plan come together.

Anyway, everyone's life is half chance. Make the best of it and enjoy the ride.

Make a solid investment in her, and she'll pay you back with interest.