Comment by eggy

Even though I started programming in 1978 (Commodore PET 2001), I avoided doing full-time IT or software work. It's always been adjacent to my work - embedded systems, CNC machines, robotics, animatronics - but I lost any appetite for going all-in after being an assistant DBA full-time for a couple of years. Computers and programming were always tools for me to use for other purposes. Troubleshooting code or wiring on a 45-ton underwater lift and then moving it just has a great payoff for me. I was a pressure junkie too. The show would have a technical fault, and it meant I was either jumping into a wetsuit and gear for a dive, or I was in the basement in front of a cabinet with thousands of wires trying to isolate and fix the fault while the audience grew understandably frustrated. Fortunately, we honed the system and these happened less frequently, but I have to admit in hindsight it really got my juices flowing.