[prodigal_erik]

It's a recurring complaint I'm mystified about. Do women really think young male computer nerds got positive feedback and support? Because hell no, that didn't happen. I learned because I was drawn to it. Nobody understood that, it made me a freak, even my few friends thought it was weird, but I couldn't resist. If seeing a perfectly objective machine pronounce your work correct doesn't amaze you, if you need external validation and enticement into the industry, if you can resist, then you probably should because it means this isn't your calling.

[calf]

This is too simplistic. Most people spend the majority of their lives toiling away at work that they enjoy less than other tasks. There are lots of reasons for this, but most abstractly, it is a fact of human survival. What we can do as a community is to be as welcoming as possible.

The writings of (e.g.) Knuth and Stallman consistently refer to programming as a communal activity. It shouldn't be necessary for it to be a calling—or to use a perhaps more objective term, a niche (that you've created for yourself)—for someone to participate in a economic/professional setting.

[wnoise]

From other computer nerds, they often do.