[theatraine]

Personally, my aptitude was unexpressed until college. It was first-year computer programming (standard in Canadian engineering schools) that opened my eyes. Prior to this, I never really had the desire to program anything because no one had told me how fun it was. It was not encouraged by my parents (who didn't even own a computer for the longest time) or my teachers both of which did not know the first about programming or why you would ever want to do it.

I certainly think that the "talent shortage" could be reduced by making computer science mandatory in high school, or at least on equal footing with other sciences such as biology or physics.