This is hard to say. It's something I've almost always done! I've been very blessed to have had so many opportunities to become a developer, hone my skills, and apply them in the real world. My parents and a few excellent teachers probably inspired me the most. To call out some specific milestones that probably influenced my path:
- The Apple ][c my family purchased in the late 80s, upon which I learned basic and the joys of Lode Runner.
- My fifth grade teacher Mr. G who encouraged me to stay after school to work on the school's website, which I had a lot of fun doing
- Selling little calculator programs for 5 bucks a pop in middle school
- Building random web applications in classic ASP for my group of friends in high school