I started programming 30 years ago when I was in high school. ... Wait for it... . SO WHAT! Seriously, the thing I love the most about our choice of career is

I started programming 30 years ago when I was in high school. ... Wait for it... . SO WHAT! Seriously, the thing I love the most about our choice of career is that if you want to be good at it you will be learning for the rest of your life. I wrote a system last year that processes 3.2 Billion queries a day at peaks of 45k/second and all under 4ms response time. Very little of what I learned in high school about z80 assembly language had much to do with this project. Most of it was exposure to all the things I've worked with for 30 years and some of it was stuff I learned six months ago. The "learned six months ago" is the part to pay attention to. If you enjoy the challenges placed in front of you and you enjoy learning this is one of the best businesses you can be in. If you want to park yourself at a desk and do minimal work and/or new learning then try a different field. There are plenty of fields you can master quickly and not have to learn much for the next 20 years. When you start is not as important as your passion and dedication. My father and I were talking the other day and he told me how he was so impressed with how smart I am (this coming from my dad who at 71 learned to write in Php lol). I told him I'm actually pretty average, the difference is persistance. I recently heard a claim that Albert Einstein said "It's not that I'm so smart, it's just that I stay with problems longer.." I'm not sure if he said it or not but it is exactly how I feel. It's not about what year you started to program, it's about staying with problems longer and working them out and learning along the way. Enjoy the ride.. I know I have and it's just barely started.. ;-)