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That's what I saw the maybe answer as doing, allowing for an if...
WarePhreak
Programmers are tools to convert caffiene to code.
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Nop. They think "hey free tech help!" 
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Simply put 'You are taken for a free ride.'.
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I get always free cake, cookies and coffee for helping. :->
Greetings from Germany
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Thats true for a lot of techies. People always feed me when I am at their house working on their computer.
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Family/friends IT for ![Beer | [beer]](https://codeproject.global.ssl.fastly.net/script/Forums/Images/beer.gif) (or ![Java | [Coffee]](https://codeproject.global.ssl.fastly.net/script/Forums/Images/coffee.gif) in the morning).
Software Zen: delete this;
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I usually require food and socializing for me and my fam if I am to work for free. I have a wife and 3 kids. They will weigh that heavily against 40-50$ per hour. It also depends on how much work I have to do. if it is more than a couple of hours then I don't offer the work for dinner. Yes this applies to immediate family too. The grandmas always choose to cook.
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I like very much what I do.
I feel like like very few people enjoying to work, not just working because I have to but because it's what I like to do.
A big problem I see with kids now is that they don't know what they like.
They seem like they don't like to do anything despite TV, hanging out doing nothing, sleeping,... whatever...
Computers are a easy to like, and if a kid can overcome the "fascinating" world of games and chatting, I think he/she can take a profession out of it with some ease.
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AlexCode wrote: I like very much what I do.
I feel like like very few people enjoying to work, not just working because I have to but because it's what I like to do.
I've had the privilege of doing something I like to do for a living for 30 years. What's to hate about that?
If someone in the family likes to "make" things then, sure! Making software is as creative and can be as much fun as making anything else!
-CB 
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I'm a kid that overcomed the fascinating world of games and chatting and started programming. Well, the fascinating world of games was the main reason. I'm a kid, you know. And still - my goal is to code a game...
But that's not really related to the poll 
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Good for you that you made the "jump"
What I meant was that usually kids (and the not so kids) just play and chat and do nothing else.
Spending all day glued to the keyboard playing doesn't mean that that person is talented to be a good IT professional in whatever area including development.
True is that most computer get their entrance into homes because of games and word processing occasionally revealing new talents.
As an advice if you want to take it, gaming industry is just one small part of software development and depending on where you are (country) may be very difficult to be professional on that. Stick to what you want but also consider other areas.
Cheers!
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Right...
And I surely won't make games only. There are other interesting branches. My first program had nothing to do with games...
-- modified at 12:54 Tuesday 11th September, 2007
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Funnily enough I got my start in programming when my parents bought a computer knowing it was the future, but they didn't know they had to buy software as well (or perhaps they couldn't see the value in such expensive little disks). So I had an expensive computer and no software, except for this funny program called 'basic' which allowed you to write other programs. My first paid programming gig as a teenager was writing a program to tally the survey results for a local committe opposed to a highway bypass. Today you could do the same thing in 30 minutes with Excel or Access, but I didn't have any software so I had to write it myself. The worst thing was I kept bumping into the 256Kb RAM (yes, that's KB) limits so I had to write everything off to the floppy and read it back in again as needed. I've still got the code on a printout - all it needed was some bolognaise sauce and a bit of grated parmesan. 
(edit : the highway bypass was built anyway - thus also marking my first large project that eventually went nowhere)
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I love a bit of one upmanship (and expect to get done again) I started on a commodore 64 and had to use the audio tape to store the program - ahh those were the days.
More to the point my son who I tried to encourage to become a programmer is hopeless at anything but games (he regularly beat me at any computer game). He is now a divemaster in Cairns and very happy with his choices.
Unless they have at least some talent and more important a passion for creating solutions, stick to the games.
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I think it's possible, but it would be much better to not invite relatives in your projects, company or team.
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Want to be happy - do what you like!
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Nickolay Karnaukhov wrote: but it would be much better to not invite relatives in your projects, company or team
Definitely not. This would bring in more politics right? Also, many organizations have defined HR Policies to smoothly deal with this type of issue. Isn't it?
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I don't know how companies deal with that issue but I know one married couple worked in same team on the same project and they divorced after 6 month of work together just because husband didn't liked a code his wife done...
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Want to be happy - do what you like!
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Nickolay Karnaukhov wrote: they divorced after 6 month of work together just because husband didn't liked a code his wife done
Bad Bad Attitude. Personal things and Professional deliverables should have thier own limits and a distinct tangible line of demarcation is what is emphasized here or what goes as the moral of the story.
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That is really sad...
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Want to be happy - do what you like!
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Agree... and this "rule" applies to any kind of work...
Mixing work with family have a very low rate of success.
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I wouldn't recommend anyone do programming unless they have the aptitude and want to do it for the right reasons.
It's a good job, I think, especially compared to so many others. You can make a good wage, a decent living or a fortune, depending on how far you want to take it.
But if you're not cut out for it, it's can be a wretched job. It's the sort of job that if you hum along at the lower 30% in terms of ability, you'll get 90% of the crap jobs. You'll get stuck supporting products written in technology two evolutions ago, like some weird VB3 app that is still mission critical and runs on a Windows 95 machine. You'll have to try and sort through 10 years of messed up spaghetti code - somewhat like having to live with the village bike, it's dreary and embarassing. You'll dream of the day where you get to do a clean sheet design of an exciting new product - but it will never happen. And then the worst thing happens - your skillset finally becomes obsolete because you were stuck on the old projects and didn't keep up - and you end up as a bitter testing analyst with a chip on your shoulder. And daily you declare to people 'when I was programming in assembly we didn't introduce this many bugs!'.
{oh, and that's not me!}
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Couldn't of put it better. It's something you can't just train to be good at it, it's down to aptitude.
If you're struggling developing software, then I'd recommend gardening.
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brucerchapman wrote: I wouldn't recommend anyone do programming unless they have the aptitude and want to do it for the right reasons.
Absolutely. However I think that's true for any field. If you're just getting into it for MONEY then that's the wrong reason. Don't get me wrong - it's not bad to earn the money, just don't make it the primary reason to pick your field.
brucerchapman wrote: It's a good job, I think, especially compared to so many others. You can make a good wage, a decent living or a fortune, depending on how far you want to take it.
Yup. Have been doing it for 30 years myself - can't complain about the living I make. Sure does beat digging ditches. If you're frustrated with your job go out to a construction site and watch the guys out there for a half-hour. I guarantee you'll have a new appreciation for what you do.
brucerchapman wrote: But if you're not cut out for it, it's can be a wretched job. It's the sort of job that if you hum along at the lower 30% in terms of ability, you'll get 90% of the crap jobs.
That's true in any field, not just programming.
brucerchapman wrote: You'll get stuck supporting products written in technology two evolutions ago, like some weird VB3 app that is still mission critical and runs on a Windows 95 machine. You'll have to try and sort through 10 years of messed up spaghetti code - somewhat like having to live with the village bike, it's dreary and embarassing.
Er ... I'm not sure I agree with this, at least not entirely. If you're a true developer you can find ways to be creative with whatever you're "stuck" with, so to speak. In our company, for example, our product line still has some old legacy versions that still sell very well. Sometimes I'm asked to fix stuff in the old versions of the product. I really don't mind doing that.
brucerchapman wrote: You'll dream of the day where you get to do a clean sheet design of an exciting new product - but it will never happen. And then the worst thing happens - your skillset finally becomes obsolete because you were stuck on the old projects and didn't keep up - and you end up as a bitter testing analyst with a chip on your shoulder. And daily you declare to people 'when I was programming in assembly we didn't introduce this many bugs!'.
If you're a sloppy performer then, yes, you may get "stuck" like this - however if you're really focused on being the best you can be at it this isn't a likely scenario.
Cheers,
-CB
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brucerchapman wrote: But if you're not cut out for it, it's can be a wretched job. It's the sort of job that if you hum along at the lower 30% in terms of ability, you'll get 90% of the crap jobs. You'll get stuck supporting products written in technology two evolutions ago, like some weird VB3 app that is still mission critical and runs on a Windows 95 machine. You'll have to try and sort through 10 years of messed up spaghetti code - somewhat like having to live with the village bike, it's dreary and embarassing.
How right you are, Some colleagues of mine at the University end up doing help desk support and other tail end jobs because they hated programming, they are still struggling to keep up with technology and enjoying meagre salaries for all their efforts.
Albert Dadze
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If the fear of loosing jobs or creating competitior is making us not to ask our relatives to join software development?
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