Mine doesn't really stem from the need to code or anything like that. I'm an engineer by education, and i've had engineering roots my whole life, through family and experiences.

I tend not to learn too many frameworks, just because they're basically all the same apart from some small nuances and lots of annoyances.

My biggest factor is solving problems, being presented with a problem and creating a solution in my head, then going through the motions and selecting the best languages, frameworks, processes and finally, of course, building it.

I'm actually trying to start a blog about solving problems. Basically selecting any problem, computer based or otherwise, and presenting a solution. I have quite the analytical and creative mind, so solving the problem is more fun for me than actually building/implementing it. Not to mention I have too little time and resources to build all the solutions I have in mind anyway haha.

For me, i see codes as being magical. I really cant point out my motivation but one thing is that, seeing lines of code fascinates me and i decided to take the leap and start coding too.

Hopefully someday in my coding journey, i will be able to realize my motivation that lead me into coding.

Cal Newport wrote a book titled; "Be so good they can't Ignore you".

stafforini.com/docs/Newport%20-%20So%20good%20the…

Before I read the book, I use to go with the believe that "one must not have to over stress one self before one can be successful." This was back up with the adage that "what is mine, is mine. No one can take it from me". However, after I read the book and a few others (with this leading, you can give it a try), I realized that there is no shortcut to success aside hard-work.

Success without full career capital(skill), is worthless. And a miracle that presents its self when you aren't prepared is a waste; who out of the blues becomes a CEO without skills to keep him going?.

My biggest dream is to be fully ready and always having the best to offer; been so good that they can't Ignore me. This implicitly keeps me going.

For me it was pretty simple - I wanted to build things that people would use. Learning to code was the easiest way to achieve that goal. Additionally, my university taught us programming from Day 0 (you know C, C++ etc). However, there was no practical way to validate what I was learning. So, I ventured out on my own and started learning PHP (it wasn't a part of university curriculum). I learned the ropes, built a few things on the web and quickly found that people started using them. So, the work I did had real world impact - no matter how small.

That's when I told myself: "Yes, I want to be a programmer".

My math teacher in school

Two years before the university admission I was preparing for the biology and chemistry exams because I wanted to get a medical degree. All my energy was concentrated on that, studying about cells, organisms, the human body, reproduction, chemical reactions, etc. That, of course, affected other areas negatively, one of which was math.

I was pretty good at math, easily getting A and B grades, up until I started preparing for the other exams. My grades dropped to C and even D sometimes and my math teacher wasn't happy about that.

One day, my mother met her on the street and asked her how was I doing. She answered - "C is the max he can get and even that is too much for him...". I was shocked when I heard she told that. And I took it too personally.

"Who is she to tell me what I can or can't do?" - my young mind thought.

My future plans changed overnight. I wanted to show my teacher how wrong she was. So, I ditched the biology books and chemistry lessons and started studying math again. My grades jumped to A grades instantly, but I was still not happy about it. I wanted to take it one step further. So, I decided to take the math university admission exam.

The result was more than pleasing - I got 5.6 of 6 and got accepted at the University of Veliko Tarnovo with Computer Science.

Until the third year in the university, I wasn't sure I made the right choice. The material we were studying was dry and old, the lessons - boring Powerpoint presentations using Comic Sans, most of the professors - grumpy old men, who thought CCS3 was rocket science.

I felt miserable. My motivation was fading and I started doubting my decision. I had to do something and I had to do it fast.

So, I began to study by myself. I made a simple plan of what I want to do and how much time it would take me to achieve it. And then it all started!

I found that programming can actually be really fun, but also really hard. Math concepts started to make sense now that I started using them in real projects. Finishing a project and seeing it actually works felt so empowering and enlightening. Then it came to me - I have made the right choice after all!

Not long after that I started my first real programming job as a junior front-end developer. I was thinking I knew everything and it will be a piece of cake... I was so wrong! It was nothing I've imagined, but that motivated me even more because I knew it's worth it.

After years in the IT sector, being a developer in several companies, I found that programming can give you the freedom to create, share, contribute, teach whatever you like without any boundaries.

I still think what would have happened if my mother didn't meet my math teacher on the street that day. Would I become a doctor or would I somehow end up being a programmer after all?

I was actually more interested studying in physics, chemistry, biology, history and such than computing. I just per accident got stuck on it. I just like solving problems and discovering, understanding or inventing things.

That's it :) not that amazing ... I don't want to share the first running c program story because those are just moments. my core motivation is curiosity, the rest is just a byproduct.

btw Marco Alka 'was is' a bit of german turret acting up? gg

To Be frank Marco Alka, I started forcefully just to pass all my exams, but when i was in 3rd year, i have built some internal software for college which actually motivated me to start coding. Now a days I always like to learn new things, also to discuss with my tech team and to propose them a better solution i always try keep updating my self.

I learned it because it's fun :-)

Creating powerful things like programs, and solving challenges, are cool ways to spend time.

But I'm not very confident about it. I'm very skeptical of the "what motivates you" question. You don't need reasons to like stuff. And having a good story about why you like stuff seems to me to be a poor predictor of actually enjoying other things that match the story.

I think I like creating stuff, but I'm not into art at all. I think I like challenges, but not like, sport, or chess. I like tinkering or debugging, but not electronics...

I prefer to trust actions. If you do something a lot without being pushed to, I'll assume you really do like it, for whatever reason.

Maybe that skepticism is from being rejected for opportunities for not having a clear motivation story. It's so easy to invent a story that sounds good, don't know why I didn't...

I had a couple of amazing things happen probably around age 12 (grade 6) that probably tipped me in that direction.

Like most young boys I enjoyed some computer games, and those were the days of DOS games with computed-generated sound effects and ridiculous pixellated graphics. One of the games we would play was "Scorched Earth", a tank fighting game (very educational for physics ;) ) and the computer teacher had customized the taunts and death messages to localize them to our school. I think that was the first moment where I realized that people wrote software, and that if my teacher could modify something like a game, maybe I too, after I was grown up and educated and experience, maybe I too could enter some chat lines in a TXT file and modify a game :P

The second thing that probably changed the course of what I ended up doing was creating a basic HTML page in Netscape Composer. It looked kind of like WordPerfect, but you could change the background colors of the table cells! I was hooked, whatever "HTML" was I knew it was better than WordPerfect because it had colors.

So from then on I learned HTML, and CSS, though I never would have imagined that would be what I do for a job. I thought all through school and even college that I wanted to design, or animation, or something visual like that. I just didn't realize responsive web design hadn't been invented yet :D Now I know what I'm supposed to do!

For me I just really wanted to switch careers and all I thought is that I want to do something with computers. I think I landed on programming because of a few reasons

• It offers the possibility of working remote
• It can pay very well
• I think there are many fields within programming I see as noble ( software for health, robotic farming, cyber security )
• I can exercise a lot of creativity
• and finally ... problem solving all day just makes that brain grow :)

all these things combined are what pulled me in

as far as motivation and dreams.... I am already working on a language app for my son, and have a ton of ideas for future programs! There is just an endless amount of room for development, it is SO exciting!! I would love to start a company with the main goal of education in mind!

Good question Marco!

LONG LIVE HASHNODE

Mine was first to hack a specific MMORPG... and later to create a big game myself, which I am still working on. Funny, how I switched sides completely, went through many languages, and still cannot move on from this motivation.