Not even I know why most software developers decided to be software developers
In the late 70's I had a serious video game habit and bought a TRS-80 in hopes of saving some money. I quickly learned I'd rather program the thing than play games on it. At the time I was in college for an EE, third semester I changed to a computer science degree. At work my job was to QC boards and fix them as needed. Wrote Space Invaders for our 1553 analyzer, marketing found it and started showing it at trade shows. Helped that the version they grabbed I hadn't yet implemented the aliens shooting at you, but you could shoot them. Engineering found out about it, brought me over.
Ended up with a BS in Math, was an embedded software engineer until a few years ago when I went to work for a startup. They folded, and I learned companies won't interview people in their 50s, let alone hire them. So I "retired" at 52.
FWIW, my weekly budget was $30 for video games. After buying the TRS-80 it went down to maybe $20/week, but my salary bump more than made up for it.
-- Relationship status: Available for curbside pickup.
(Score: 2) by Snotnose on Saturday May 21 2016, @02:13AM
Not even I know why most software developers decided to be software developers
In the late 70's I had a serious video game habit and bought a TRS-80 in hopes of saving some money. I quickly learned I'd rather program the thing than play games on it. At the time I was in college for an EE, third semester I changed to a computer science degree. At work my job was to QC boards and fix them as needed. Wrote Space Invaders for our 1553 analyzer, marketing found it and started showing it at trade shows. Helped that the version they grabbed I hadn't yet implemented the aliens shooting at you, but you could shoot them. Engineering found out about it, brought me over.
Ended up with a BS in Math, was an embedded software engineer until a few years ago when I went to work for a startup. They folded, and I learned companies won't interview people in their 50s, let alone hire them. So I "retired" at 52.
FWIW, my weekly budget was $30 for video games. After buying the TRS-80 it went down to maybe $20/week, but my salary bump more than made up for it.
Relationship status: Available for curbside pickup.