When I was 18, my "secret" plan was to be a creative writer. I didn't tell my parents (who wanted me to focus on math) this and took a lot of math and, once I g

When I was 18, my "secret" plan was to be a creative writer. I didn't tell my parents (who wanted me to focus on math) this and took a lot of math and, once I got into proof-based classes, loved it. So I majored in math, but also put a lot of effort (most outside of coursework) into creative writing, which was quite challenging in its own way. My creative writing was hit-or-miss. I once got last place in a poetry slam, but that was a problem with delivery/performance rather than an issue with the writing. I did get good at creative writing, but probably not good enough (at least, not in time for the real world) to do it full-time. Ultimately, I'd say I failed (I was 18-22) because I didn't understand people at that age. Prose was no problem, but I sucked (back then) at actually communicating. I think that my writing and game design experiences gave me a lot in terms of being a good programmer, however. I've built some good games, and some bad ones (that the world will never see, mercifully). The bad ones were instructive. Watching a design utterly fail because of too much complexity is good preparation for software, because 90% of the pain we experience is dealing with badly designed, over-complex cruft. We need more competent communicators, by far. No question in my mind about that.