I double majored in english literature and math, and I added the math late. I was very interested in CS and math (it wasn't a thing yet in the mid 90s but now they call my interests "data science"). Of course, aspirations about what life will be like when you "grow up" are always a bit of a naive fantasy, but I thought (or at least hoped) that I would be able to join a more urbane, sophisticated, adult world at some point. That may sound a bit naive, but there's nothing wrong with aspiring to it. When I joined the tech working world, I was disappointed that my office manager seems to think that a foosball table and video game machine turn fit into some kind of nirvana, or that my office went to dave n busters for a retreat… it's not that I can't enjoy it, I can, but I heard about the retreats friends in law firms were taking, and I was envious of how much more sophisticated, adult and grown up it all sounded). I don't mean to sound like I'm putting life in a law firm as all roses, I am absolutely aware that it isn't, but I was envious that they seemed to have joined an adult world whereas tech seemed to be a relatively immature, almost extended adolescent culture.

Unfortunately, over time, I've slowly started to believe there may be something more insidious in the juvenility of tech culture, and that it may be imposed as much from the outside as the inside. I'm not sure the people who hire programmers really want to view them as adults. More like minions, talented but immature young men rotating through, happy with their video games and foosball tables and salaries that pay well enough to enjoy a delayed adolescence but never enough to put down roots and raise a family where they live and work… ultimately, I think this is damaging and may very well deter a lot of potentially talented people from entering the field, or cause others to leave.