WOW, Steve, you know how to pick interesting topics. I didn't see this until today, and man has it got me to thinking. There's two audiences I'd like to address. One is the person whose serious about their future and is contemplating where to go. Like a freshman in college. To such a person I would add that a career in IT/programming requires constant learning. Get used to it. It's like being a doctor, without the state boards licensure; you have to continually learn. If you don't like learning, please consider something else. If you do like learning, then man have you found a great place!!

The second type of person is the ones you mentioned at the beginning, Steve, the 12 year olds your friend was doing a presentation to. WOW, are things different now then when I was 12!!! Here's a little, personal info on me; back then I as 12 I wanted to be an astronaut. I did what I could to get to make that happen. I studied mathematics (that's what I got my Bachelors in), science and technology. Ultimately it was my desire to be an astronaut that drove me into what's called STEM today. But the thing that killed me from reaching that goal was my eyesight. I'm near sighted, and have worn glasses since I was 12 years old. That put the kibosh on my ever becoming an astronaut. But the 12 year old today? WOW, compared to what I grew up with and what the typical 12 year old, at least in the US, is well it's like we're from different planets. Look at what's popular for them today. It's people like Miley Cyrus, Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson. Selena Gomez, Lindsay Lohan and Justin Bieber. Yeah, some of these have fallen of the wagon, but if history in the last dozen years of so has shown me, people are forgiving of their celebrities. And look at what their lifestyles communicate to the young. Parties! Stay out and up all night long! Underage drinking! Yeah, you might be caught and have to do rehab, but at least what the celebrity press show of it, rehab looks like the vacation all of us deserve. Peace and quiet in a beautiful setting, for a month or more. (Which of us hard working IT and developers couldn't use that?) Also, take a look at these young celebrities; they're good looking. Who doesn't want to be good looking. And let's be honest about ourselves in IT/development; many of us are overweight, some seriously so. In a day and age in which image is everything, if you look at the overweight IT person vs. the hot celebrity debutants, it's no contest. And lastly the money these celebrities make, man is there any other more powerful incentive to the 12 year old today than that? The image conveyed in celebrity news media today is, all you have to do is put up a music video on YouTube, get enough followers, and man, you've got it made. I would say that for today's typical 12 year old, there isn't anything interesting in IT/software development that can compete with the celebrity lifestyle. It's over before the starting gun has gone off.