Honestly, I thought there was more glory AND autonomy in academia than in "industry." I came from a family that valued education and learning and monastic-like

Honestly, I thought there was more glory AND autonomy in academia than in "industry." I came from a family that valued education and learning and monastic-like traditions over things like money or productivity. With the way my blinders had been fashioned, it simply didn't occur to me until later in my life that doing "problem solving for hire" was a viable life-path, and that software as a pursuit in and of itself offered me everything academia offered me and more.