Burnandbass, Absolutely, if you love to program, that means way more than having a CS degree. With the experience you have, plus what you have learned from your own reading, you can probably do it better already than most CS grads. Why not try picking up a few jobs on oDesk and see how well you can do? (Background: Started programming at 10 years, now 30, no CS degree but can code circles around most who have one, working as a volunteer in Africa, do web programming in the evenings -- actually I prefer more hardcore stuff but web dev jobs are just too easy to find, make enough money that me and my wife can live comfortably and go on vacations now and again. I think I'd hate programming if I did it 9-5, but part-time is great, just enough that I never lose my love for the code. And what other profession allows you to travel the world without ever leaving your job behind?)

> For now, I choose to live in the Microsoft universe. But that doesn't mean I'm ignorant of how the other half lives. There's always more than one way to do it... Kudos to Jeff for living up to these wise words! For now, I choose to live in the Linux/open source universe (and do the bulk of my coding in Ruby). But I don't vilify Microsoft, or distain C# or .NET. If it works for you, use it! > Each time I switch from between C# and Ruby, it feels like I'm getting out of my minivan, and driving a sports car with my seatbelt off at full speed. I know the feeling all too well. But when I switch back the other way, it feels like being tied really tightly in a chair, to where I can hardly move. I'm still trying to find a language with the best of both worlds.

Yet another reason to switch from Hotmail to Gmail (as if there weren't enough already)! Great post, Jeff!