A friend of mine is a fair few years younger than me and is a much better programmer than me. At first (maybe the first few months) I felt some small measure of envy, but over time I decided to take the attitude of, what can I learn from this person. If this person is outperforming me, what are they doing different, maybe adopting that can help bridge the gap.

I learned a few really good things from this, like, said friend is completely open about the things that he doesn't know. He doesn't hide or bluff his lack of knowledge, he went 'so far' as to google something in front of me that he didn't know. I realised this was a factor to some degree of attitude, upbringing, and socialization. I adopted it and I honestly have learned much more than I would have otherwise.

The other aspect of it is of course, I've taken a different career path than him. We have different sets of knowledge (even though I think if he took the time in about six months he could probably be up to my level in my path).

It's a manner of attitude, rather than anything else