Sorry for the paragraph, first time posting and I can figure out why it won't save my formatting. This is exactly why I hate computers.

I've been reading Slashdot since '98 and am finally posting something. Personally, I can understand his hatred. I'm 29 now, and at 3 I got my first computer. (Mac 128k) At around 6 I got my first IBM PC. (Packard Bell) At 11 I started volunteering with a program at my school rebuilding donated PCs. With no manuals, swapping cards and guessing jumper settings was always fun. At 13 I started my first BBS. Unfortunately, about 2 weeks later the internet came to my town, I was not pleased. At 16, for the first time I made some money with computers. I reinstalled Windows for a friend of the family, made myself 20 bucks, was quite pleased. At 18 I started college for Network Administration. 4.0 GPA, top of my class, breezed through everything. Got a job writing Access databases for $18 an hour. (!!!) At 19 I was making over $100,000 a year, cash, with my own business. Networking small business, selling PCs and dumb terminals, wiring rich peoples houses in Boca Raton. Dropped out of college, found I didn't have a need for it. At 20, I had 2 businesses, 10 employees, and was the East Coast Tech Manager for a blooming digital photography company. I had to constantly raise prices to be able to make my appointments. I was charging $100 just to show up. Flying to New York twice a month just to go clubbing. Every night was a party, shopping sprees every few days, no money went unspent. Just before I hit 21, I gave the my work cell to a friend and joined the US Marine Corps. If I hadn't, my lifestyle would most likely have killed me. They gave me a job as a firefighter and that's what I've been doing since then. Sure, I'll help someone out from time to time. I ran an ISP in Afghanistan for about a year and a half for the 60 of us in the fire hall plus some neighbors. I built myself a gaming rig (never played anything on it but Spider Solitaire). I read about tech constantly, check Slashdot and Engadget at least 10 times a day. I've never looked back. Computers had been fun for me since I was in short pants. Working in the field, although profitable, sucked ALL the enjoyment out of it. I couldn't take the complaining and the stupid problems any more. I once drove 2 hours each way on a warranty call because the lady was pressing the floppy eject button to try and restart her computer. I hate my job now, much more than working in computers, but at least I can get some satisfaction from playing with my toys now. Tinkering is fun again. In my case, doing what I loved for a living turned out to be miserable. Like the author, I can honestly say I hated computers, and still hate them now. There is always something that doesn't work quite right, some little issue preventing me from doing just what I want to do. At least now, on my own time, I can try to figure out which of the 12 USB devices I have plugged in is causing them all to stop, or try to get the damn sound to come out of the right damn output for my Blu-Rays. I think we all get the thrill from the chase, and when your chasing the same stupid thing day in and day out you just get tired of it. Good on him if he goes and becomes a plumber. He'll probably hate that too, but maybe he'll get his love for computers back, and to me that makes it worth it.