[AnimalMuppet]

My dad was a computer programmer. My mom was before I was born.

In high school I took a Fortran class. It was... all right, I guess. Then the computer science lab got five TRS-80s. I borrowed the Basic manual and read it one day when I was supposed to be paying attention in calculus class. I started using them (I wasn't in any of the CS classes, but they were tolerant of such shenanigans), and it was magic. Turns out the difference between one week of turnaround time and one minute makes a big difference.

Then I didn't do anything much with computers in college. I graduated with a math and physics degree. I felt really smart, because those are hard majors. Then I graduated and found out I was unemployable. So, not so smart after all.

At my dad's suggestion, I interviewed for a computer programming job. The boss said "I don't see a lot of computer classes on your transcript." I said "No, I've got a math degree. I'm mostly self-taught with respect to computers." I figured that was the end of my chances there. Turns out she had a masters in math and was self-taught on computers. I got the job.

The pay's good, the working conditions are a lot better than digging ditches, and I like the work at least some of the time, so I've stayed.