I have always been fascinated by computers, and since I was in elementary school I knew I would end up in a career working with them. My first exposure to programming came actually quite late, when I was 15 or 16. I took a school course that had us code on C++. That was also my first exposure to the realities of our industry: the program I was making didn't get completed on time, even with features cut. Despite that, I immediately found myself fascinated by programming and understanding the magical world inside the computer, and so during the next year I taught myself Java. Since then I have learned that it doesn't matter what language or tools you are using; programming is just a realization of the thought process of the programmer. From my point of view it doesn't matter what you know, any programmer worth their salt can learn what they need to know in short order. What matters more is how you think, and that's the part that fascinates me. I am an Engineer!!