Why did you became programmers?

AspDotNetDev

Fixed the title for you. I took a programming class in high school (9th or 10th grade) because I had crazy ideas of what it was to be a programmer (basically, look at a bunch of 1s and 0s and make cool stuff from modifying them). Before that, I didn't really touch computers. Well, it wasn't exactly what I thought it was, but when I took that class I became hooked. I don't remember if I knew I would do that for a career, but I did know I wanted to program computers for the rest of my life (for money or not).

Thou mewling ill-breeding pignut!

Ian Shlasko

For my fourth birthday, I got an Atari 800XL... One of those computer-in-a-keyboard systems that used game cartridges and saved BASIC programs on audio casettes. Rumor has it, I played the games for a couple months, then decided I wanted to write my own. My father gave me a copy of The IBM Basic Handbook, taught me about line numbers and for-next loops, and from that moment on, I was doomed to be a programmer. I'm not quite sure how I went from "Wanting to make my own games" to "Developing portfolio management systems for hedge funds"... There's some kind of non-sequitor there...

Proud to have finally moved to the A-Ark. Which one are you in?
Author of the Guardians Saga (Sci-Fi/Fantasy novels)

R Giskard Reventlov

Michael Sernal wrote:

When you will still young like in grade school or earlier, did you already know that you would take a career in IT?

Sort of. I have been lucky enough to have more than one of my life's dreams come true so I'm quite a happy bunny.

"If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur." Red Adair. nils illegitimus carborundum me, me, me

R Giskard Reventlov

Ian Shlasko wrote:

I'm not quite sure how I went from "Wanting to make my own games" to "Developing portfolio management systems for hedge funds"... There's some kind of non-sequitor there...

Similar: it's when you realize that it doesn't really matter what you create as long as you are creating that you fully begin to enjoy the sport of development. :-)

"If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur." Red Adair. nils illegitimus carborundum me, me, me

Lost User

Michael Sernal wrote:

When you will still young like in grade school or earlier, did you already know that you would take a career in IT?

No. That was more of an accident. In 1978 I walked into a Radio Shack and saw a brand new TRS-80 (Model I) and the manual. Then I spent an hour or so trying to convince the computer to do something. When I came home I was in trouble (as usual) and surprised my poor parents by telling them that all this was unimportant because I needed a computer.

At least artificial intelligence already is superior to natural stupidity

Ian Shlasko

Uh... No... I don't really enjoy this very much. It just pays a lot better :)

Proud to have finally moved to the A-Ark. Which one are you in?
Author of the Guardians Saga (Sci-Fi/Fantasy novels)

GateKeeper22

Yeah I have known that I would be a programmer since I was 8. And I never looked back. Been programming now for the better part of 20 years and it is still as exciting today as it was back then. I never doubted that decision.

Tim Corey

I did it for the opportunity to meet women. :laugh: Actually, I knew I wanted to be a programmer since I wrote my first "app" in BASIC. At the time, I thought I would only ever be able to do it as a hobby. Once I figured out someone would pay me to do it, I never looked back.

Gary Wheeler

Because I didn't have the face or the body to be a gigolo. Come to think of it, I'm still paid money to do disgusting things with other people, so it's okay.

Software Zen: delete this;

Michael Sernal

Thanks. As for me when I finished high school I don't know what degree to take and then my brother told me to choose one that i won't feel bored going to school one that I will find interesting so I took a degree in IT.

Corporal Agarn

My degree in engineering and first (real) job in material testing shows what I wanted to do with my life. I am not a true programmer as my current "expertise" is DBA. Got into computers through need while managing a database of pipeline disasters.

AspDotNetDev

Tim Corey wrote:

I did it for the opportunity to meet women

Psst, work for as a web developer in a marketing department. ;)

Thou mewling ill-breeding pignut!

Lost User

Yes, the programmer groupies are a good reason, but they can be a pest at times...

At least artificial intelligence already is superior to natural stupidity

Slacker007

I didn't get into this programming stuff until after I got out of the Army. It found me, I did not find it. I have never looked back. ;)

"the meat from that butcher is just the dogs danglies, absolutely amazing cuts of beef." - DaveAuld (2011)
"No, that is just the earthly manifestation of the Great God Retardon." - Nagy Vilmos (2011) "It is the celestial scrotum of good luck!" - Nagy Vilmos (2011) "But you probably have the smoothest scrotum of any grown man" - Pete O'Hanlon (2012)

Chris Maunder

Because I'm a control freak who reckoned he could do it better than the IT department where I was doing grad work. Turns out I was right :D

cheers, Chris Maunder The Code Project | Co-founder Microsoft C++ MVP

Michael Sernal

Gamer? Yes? I used to play a lot of video games when i was still a kid Super Mario was the first game i played. And since I'm into gaming I want to know how they created them and so i took programming.

Ennis Ray Lynch Jr

In retrospect I think I was lied to.

Need custom software developed? I do custom programming based primarily on MS tools with an emphasis on C# development and consulting. I also do Android Programming as I find it a refreshing break from the MS. "And they, since they Were not the one dead, turned to their affairs" -- Robert Frost

R Giskard Reventlov

Tim Corey wrote:

Once I figured out someone would pay me to do it, I never looked back.

Yes, that did come as a bit of a shock!

"If you think it's expensive to hire a professional to do the job, wait until you hire an amateur." Red Adair. nils illegitimus carborundum me, me, me

lewax00

I grew up around computers (my dad's), so I always had an interest in them. By the time I got to high school I was proficient in using them, so I didn't want to take the "desktop publishing" class offered (basically how to use MS Word), so I got permission to skip it and take a class in HTML instead, that went well so I took the only programming class offered, in VB.NET (I use the term programming lightly here, it was basically make a form, do some calculations with numeric types when a button was pressed and displaying the result in a label). I toyed with that for a while (I hadn't learned anything useful in the class, took me a while before I figured out there were things like loops and that you can define your own functions, etc.), then picked up a book on C++ I found on clearance, taught myself that, took classes in QBasic and Java when my school joined a program that added some more classes online, and by the end of high school figured I just keep doing it. I graduate with by BS in Mathematics and Computer Science next May, and my MS in the same the year after that. :-D

AspDotNetDev

You must have had one reeeeeaaaaally horrible IT department. :)

Thou mewling ill-breeding pignut!