Before I became a programmer, I wanted to be a freelance illustrator, but then I realised I can't be creative for anyone else but myself. As a programmer, I st

Before I became a programmer, I wanted to be a freelance illustrator, but then I realised I can't be creative for anyone else but myself. As a programmer, I still need to be creative but in a much different, much more straightforward way. I've got clearly defined problem that I need to solve, and I solve it. I do sometimes find I get emotionally invested in whether I solve the problem or not - so if I'm stuck on a problem for a whole day and haven't solved it by the evening, I go back home dejected and depressed. Vice versa, if I've done everything I wanted to do, I'm in a great mood all evening. These sorts of ups and downs make my job exciting and refreshing.