[InefficientRed]

I always enjoyed programming (like, from 3rd grade onwards). Basically, from my first line of BASIC, I was hooked.

I realized I was built for computer science during my first industry internship. The job was in probably one of the most interesting corners of the industry, but I still found the day-to-day slog of software development was boring and tedious. The only part of the job I enjoyed was interacting with the researchers, who were working on really interesting and difficult problems that I had no idea how to solve.

I figured I would die of boredom within 5 years if I became a software developer, or have to switch domains every few years and get my stimulation from the domain details. But I really enjoyed the computing part, not the applications. So I became a computer scientist instead of a software engineer.