The fascination of the Apple II in 5th grade math lab, getting a PC when they first came out, and the arcane 8" thick code dump print outs my VM programmer father brought home drove me to learn to code. I dont think what drove us exists any more.

An area of fascination that does exist is computer and network security (ie. penetrating and defending syatems). What kid wouldnt be interested in that?

It's the angle I plan to use to get my son interested in coding when he gets a little older.

for a software company with products aimed at software developers. Your experience provides great credibility in that role. From there move into product management.

That's the route I took. Much more interesting than the daily development grind IMHO.

I lved in India with my family setting up some engineering teams. Best two years of my career... but also the most challenging, simply because you have no idea how hard it is to adjust to living in a foreign culture until you have to do it.

Of course, if you have a crappy boss, it'll completely suck - like anywhere else..

is the MCP.

Preparation for a future in boring business meetings run by blowhards who like to hear themselves talk.