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I started programming during my post-grad in nuclear physics, but after the post-grad in fundamental sciences I went to industry and for the last 4 years I've been working in web development. I kind of long for somewhat more meaning in the product I'm working on. More in the sense that it's not for buying-selling stuff online, but for helping scientists. (For the record: I don't want to be a scientist again, because I'm very happy with being a programmer.)

Does anyone here work (worked) in a research center as a full-time programmer? Could you tell about your experience there?

At my work we have to do pair programming for some time. For me it seems even worse than being interviewed. To make myself concentrate is very hard. And it seems that this pair programming is exactly the opposite of what programming is all about, i.e. to become temporarily unobservant, forget about everything else but the problem to solve and the code. So I wonder, are there people who can truly enjoy pair programming?