I started piano lessons in elementary school just before I started copying QBasic out of library books. I also took lessons on guitar, trumpet, and turntables (

I started piano lessons in elementary school just before I started copying QBasic out of library books. I also took lessons on guitar, trumpet, and turntables (scratching), and ended up getting a Bachelor of Music in jazz trumpet performance. Then I decided I really wanted to make video games, so I got a master's degree in CS and now I'm moving to Seattle to make video games. I'm pretty much only playing guitar now, which is a much easier to play casually than the trumpet. Programming and music (especially jazz improvisation) seem to involve very similar kinds of problem solving. Both of them require thinking about a problem at many different layers of abstraction simultaneously, and both are fundamentally about recognizing and manipulating abstract patterns. Also, both require a pretty focusued mindset--I learned that hours and hours in the practice room can pay off musically, and now I'm spending hours and hours at the computer in order to make games. Both are passions that, from the outside, might seem like they require a lot more work than they give back in payoff. But if you enjoy the process, it doesn't feel like work at all.