[basdevries]

I've dealt with the same problem as you have. In high school, I picked up programming and before I knew it, I was programming almost all of the time. It's great to be able to have an idea and build it instantly.

However, life is not just programming. When I was in my senior year of high school, I got multiple job offers from tech firms in my country to come work for them. This monday however, I'm starting a university course cs at UVA (university of Amsterdam). This is not because I love programming less than studying (the opposite, actually). It is because I'm playing a long-term game instead of a short one. In colleges, there is so much knowledge right under your nose, and you get to work with people equally smart. Starting this monday, I'll be on the frontier of technology.

From there, I can learn, experiment, socialize, and everything else that I couldn't do while I was building custom CMS systems or optimizing a SQL database for some lame company.

Your working life can last more than 50 years, so be wise about choosing your fundamentals.