But kids have so many things they could be doing, and programming is a long-term reward I think it depends somewhat on the cognitive reward mechanism. I could

But kids have so many things they could be doing, and programming is a long-term reward I think it depends somewhat on the cognitive reward mechanism. I could not help but learn to program at that age not because I went long on a career bet[1] or a committed theoretical pursuit, but because I found addicting the short-term effects of making the computer do what you want. For example, I would love it when, as a 10 year old, I wrote a few lines of code, compiled them to test, and they spit out some additional output on the screen. That very small, local effect, and, as I got older, more complex derivations of the same underlying feedback mechanism, gratified me in itself and kept me glued to the keyboard for many years. [1] In fact, coming from an academic family with scant social knowledge of business prior to being working age, I had only a very distant, nebulous, and unsubstantiated awareness of the fact that I had skills that were actually marketable -- and did not really think they presented a particular job market advantage -- as late as 18. I had seen them as aesthetic pursuits. I could've just as easily gotten into violin or oil painting as into programming, if we're going by mindset and sense of purpose alone.