- Why did you get into the field? What did you focus on at first? Always was interested in programming, wrote first lines of code (in BASIC) at the age of 6 (i

- Why did you get into the field? What did you focus on at first? Always was interested in programming, wrote first lines of code (in BASIC) at the age of 6 (in 1989). Wasn't interested in getting a CS diploma until 2010. Got it in 2014 after already working for 12 years in the industry. - What are you doing at your job? Is it everything you dreamed of and more? Currently I am ironically back in the academia working on epidemic modeling (as many people these days), but for the most of my career I worked with financial/trading software engineering. - How did you break that first-job barrier? Offered to work for (nearly) free in a small company owned by an acquaintance. - What were you doing before this? Not much, as you could infer. :) - Any tips for the rest of us? Loving programming is a necessary and sufficient condition to have a good career in it. Enthusiasm here can still overcome many barriers (as opposed to many other industries). Thank you for an excellent topic!