Ok, so I guess this blog will become revived? Posting in response to Lee's post, cause I got tagged. Everyone is doing it on the internets.
How old were you when you started programming?
I wrote my first program when I was in gradeschool, 2nd or 3rd grade I think. There was an after school computer program that Mr. Chappell put together on some pretty sophisticated machines for the time. The most I ever accomplished was having my name bounce around the screen. To be fair I just typed in the program from a ditto sheet, but it was still a challenge to get that right at my age. I thought it was so cool that he gave us each a 5.5 inch floppy to store our weekly work (the expense probably out of his pocket).
What was your first language?
BASIC, but I wrote some AppleScript and Hypercard applications in Jr highschool. My mother and grandmother were both journalists so I had access to some pretty cool equipment for the day. Grandma always had the newest Mac, and would pass the older one down to my mom. She was an avid computer user into her 70s when most Grandmas had a hard time with VCRs and Cordless phones. She got her first PC a year or two before she died because it was the only thing that could program her embroidery machine. She hated it.
What was the first real program you wrote?
What does "real" mean? The first application that I contributed to that people may know about was StoreFront by Lagarde. That was the beginning of web programming for me, and I never really looked back. I spend most of my time in databases and frameworks used by other programmers, but not directly by users. I'm more of a spelunker than a programmer I guess.
If you knew then what you know now, would you have started programming?
I'm not sure. Programming was just something that I could figure out without spending the time or money going to school. To do it over again might include going to college either before embarking on my career, or at least taking classes along the way. I may have gone to school for another career, but this is a loaded question anyway. I really enjoy what I do for now.
If there is one thing you learned along the way that you would tell new developers, what would it be?
1) Make sure you can do it. Just because you can pay for a guitar and lessons doesn't mean you have talent or rhythm. This isn't meant to be discouraging, it's just that given particular talents you may find you're better suited to business analysis or project management. There are lots of ways to contribute to development without tearing your hair out becoming a programmer.
2) Just keep at it, and don't beat yourself up when you find that you can't always do it the "right" way. Unless you can find a kick ass R&D gig or a job in academia, you'll still be working for the man, and the man has deadlines.
What's the most fun you've ever had ... programming?
Working before I found a balance in life. When putting an application together was like beating a new video game, staying up for days at a time in an attempt to get to the end. Any day that my brain burns is a good day.