This meme is brought to you by Michael Eaton, who just so happens to be a huge fan of my spatial talks. ;-)
How old were you when you started programming?
Well, we might need to better define "programming" here.
I started tinkering with computers when I was about 6 or 7 (is that right, Dad?). In those days, it was more about reading a book about BASIC and typing in the program to run. Then I would make changes to the program to see the results. If modifying an existing program is considered "programming", then this is my epoch.
I really didn't start creating my own programs from scratch until I was a little older, maybe 8 or 9.
How did you get started in programming?
My father would give me and my siblings time on the computer (TRS-80s), which I spent going through books about BASIC. I wanted to make the machine do something rather than just use the machine to do something, like play a game. (Don't get me wrong, though: I spent plenty of time playing games, too)
What was your first language?
BASIC
What was the first real program you wrote?
I don't remember the small ones. But an early one that sticks out in my mind was a "catch the falling egg in a basket" game, where a chicken would move randomly across the top of the screen, drop an egg, which you then had to catch in a basket at the bottom of the screen that you controlled using a joystick. I think that was on my Commodore 64, so I had to be maybe 10 years old (side note: it's amazing how hard it is to pinpoint when these events take place as the years pile on).
What languages have you used since you started programming?
BASIC, Visual Basic, C/C++. C#, SQL, Java, JavaScript, LUA
What was your first professional programming gig?
I was a PC Technicial (and, later correctly changed to Programmer/Analyst) in the IT department at the BAX Global Hub facility. There I helped maintain a variety of home-grown systems, and created some of my own (like the Automated Load Planning System that was used to assign where freight should be placed on aircraft for optimal center of gravity).
If you knew then what you know now, would you have started programming?
I don't see why not. I really haven't been jaded in my career, or anything, and it still holds my interest.
If there is one thing you learned along the way that you would tell new developers, what would it be?
Choose a technology that you are passionate about and become an expert in it... and then evangelize that technology to share your passion. There is so much stuff out there that nobody can be an expert in everything. Developers that are only able to do a little bit of everything are a commodity resource that can be replaced by cheaper labor at any time. However, if you have exceptional expertise in one or more select areas, then you become that much more valuable to somebody.
What's the most fun you've ever had ... programming?
I don't know that the actual task of programming has ever been "fun" for me, in the same sense that riding a roller coaster would be. But, I've done some quirky things while programming just to have fun and be different. Like implement a Z-Machine emulator in SQLCLR (as my submission to a programming competition) so that I can play Zork using only stored procedure calls... Or use data from the WoW Armory site to demonstrate how to use SQL Server's XML functionality... Or write Project Euler solutions in LUA and execute them in-game using WoW.