[andrewhoyer]

I am also a software developer and an avid board gamer with a special interest in strategy games. From what I've seen, there is no connection between being a developer and enjoying strategy games. Like you, most of the people we game with are in completely unrelated fields, and amongst developers I know, the number who are really into board games is probably 1 in 50. Whatever the actual number is, I'd bet that a poll of the general public would result in the same numbers.

The key to good gaming is finding the right game, the right group, and the right location. Everyone will play for their own reasons and are unlikely to be the same as others.

Besides the casual game of Chess at lunch though, I wouldn't call it a break -- it's just something we love to do! Possibly another way to look at it is that the skills in logic and planning gained in a software development career translate easily to boardgames where there's a lot of if/then/else situations as well as cases where making decisions where more than one are good come in handy.