At the time (old timer mode engaged) in France there was no real track for Computer Science, so I studied Maths and Physics up to University and Coding was on the side, for fun (ok a bit more than for fun). This was in 1998.
I think it was a mix of curse and blessing.
A curse because you don't learn with a structure and at the time Internet was not yet like it is Today :)
A blessing because you make your own path and your own experience. You are not "prisoner" from what you learn and you don't have Tunnel Vision.
When I was in University. It was mostly part time and went full time pretty quickly. So in 1999-2000? Something like that.
I was lucky enough to have some nice responsibilities pretty early on (creating a PHP portal for customers, coding on VOIP Gateways, Billing software in Windev) so it was really nice.
Video games mostly, doing videos, watching Japanese Anime.
Find a project you like and participate in it. That is how I learned C++, I wanted to help and finished up fixing the whole quest system. There is no better way to learn and apply a Language / dev skill that work on something you are excited about.
If it is an Open Source project even better as you will learn to work with other people and, well, drama that come with it, good training :)
As a side note, some people tend to think that Maths are useless in Coding, this is a big mistake. There is plenty in Algorithms, Machine Learning / AI and video game industry.