I would have had to stick to my original dream career (guitar god!) if Open Source didn't happen. But then I'd have to redefine "comfort zone" to something that isn't exactly comfortable.
Latest hardware: Raspberry Pi Zero W for tinkering. To me it is crazy what they have achieved with those little computers and how it can be used for education.
The Rpi 4 is pretty much a game changer. As is the Zero-W. The two together are something really great.
What blows my mind is that the Rpi 4 boots a hell of a lot faster than my workhorse Mac Pro. That Mac has 14G of RAM and 4Tb of hard drive, but I use my Pi's for desktop stuff because they are so uncluttered and fast as a result.
PS: Get a clusterHAT. Trust me. You won't get much sleep as you get the hang of super computing on these tiny-yet-brilliant things.