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Something outside. Maybe work in a state park, doing tours and educating children about the outdoors.

I have fond memories of going on field trips to state parks in elementary school.

I have fond memories of programming a "guess the number" game in basic as a kid.

Let's become a professional software developer!

My first VB app was a lottery numbers generator. That immediately got me interested in writing software, and I've been writing code professionally for the past 20 years. A small start is more than enough to spark a life long career.

That's what I and most of us did, I guess.

But isn't the professional stuff totally different from that initial first glimpse?

Come on, giving educational tours to children isn't anywhere near as rigorous as being a software developer. What point are you trying to make?

My reading was that if there's any regret about choosing professional SE, one should be careful not to think something else would be better for a reason similar to that the choosing SE.

I'm not a software engineer. I also didn't say I regret it, I do plan on retiring to something where I can work outside.

It's not a matter of rigor, but rather a matter of doing it for fun on your spare time vs doing it 40 hours a week.

It might very well kill the fun out of it.

Disclaimer: I've never done educational park activities.

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