> I'll preface this by saying this field has never been my passion, just a profession I like. You need to realize you're competing with people for whom program

> I'll preface this by saying this field has never been my passion, just a profession I like. You need to realize you're competing with people for whom programming really is a passion. Also, perhaps more important, ask yourself if, at any particular time, the programming job market is a seller's or a buyer's market. If it's a seller's market (meaning favoring the programmers), after a brief interview employers will take you on as an intern for a week and see if you can produce results. If it's a buyer's market, the employer will ask hypothetical questions having little to do with actual programming, in a process that may seem to be intentional discouragement. From your description, your interview fell into the latter category. The intern approach addresses a well-known problem in the field -- interviews don't efficiently identify productive programmers, they identify whiz kids. This is why the intern arrangement has become more popular over the years. But the bottom line: if find yourself asking whether you really want to be a programmer, chances are, you don't.