Before I began my career in I.T., I was an electrical controls engineer specializing in production machinery startup/debug (i.e.: Allen Bradley programming). Around 2003, that field (in mid-Michigan where I lived at the time) went to crap. I figured that since I was already doing significant work with computers and had several years doing the work "unofficially", it should be an easy transition for me and it was. Here I am going on 16 years later and while it has been a bumpy ride, I'm still going strong.