I myself now know that I self selected for software development _because_ of my anxiety, and I think anxious people might be over-represented in the profession.

I myself now know that I self selected for software development _because_ of my anxiety, and I think anxious people might be over-represented in the profession. As we all know programming is complicated, and even the simplest algorithm can produce wildly unexpected results. Anxiety makes you better at detecting danger, and in the realm of software the danger is bugs and bad interactions and so on. We all approach programming differently, there are some deliberative types, some who wing it etc, but I expect that anxious people may be a big sub-population. (Also if someone is anxious, it doesn't necessarily mean they are socially anxious or shy. I myself seem 'normal' and can be gregarious and give talks, but I do have trait anxiety.)