I like C-like programming languages, and I like to solve real world problems for my users. So two camps, I guess. Moreover I was always that annoying kid in cla

I like C-like programming languages, and I like to solve real world problems for my users. So two camps, I guess. Moreover I was always that annoying kid in class who would ask the teacher, “but what use is that?” Often the teacher couldn't even answer this very simple question, and every time that happened it left me really unmotivated to learn. The epiphany came in Upper Secondary school when a math teacher shushed the other pupils and actually took his time to tell me what {insert abstract math topic here} was actually good for. This changed a lot for me, but as far as grades go, it was already too late. Though at least it left me interested enough to research some things on my spare time, so when I finally came to the university, I almost couldn't believe my own eyes when I started to get good grades on (for me) pretty advanced math topics. I obviously still have a pretty big disadvantage in mathematics, but researching things that require stuff like abstract algebra and calculus is now much less of a hurdle for me.