Starting in any tech-related field will give you time to develop your skills. I started out in tech support, moved into QA and am now in development. Lots of people jump around and play different roles. Just keep your eye on the prize and you will get there, one way or another.

What kind of tech work did you do? I'm taking a class in computer repair.

Thanks, robogymnast... That was the kinda elbow nudge I needed. Regardless of how far I am in seriously using C for anything helpful, I still enjoy its learning curve, history and power. And I'll continue to do tech work, learning C and other languages while finding my place...

That's good. I took several classes in high school that taught me a lot about the basics of computers. My first tech job was as an intern in the "Network Services" department for a medium sized engineering company. It was basically first-level tech support Mostly it was fixing printers, applying anti-virus patches, reinstalling programs (and occasionally operating systems). Nothing too fancy, but you have to start somewhere.

It's really about your attitude more than anything. You should always be trying to learn something new, especially in such a rapidly changing field. As one of my first bosses told me "A averagely skilled employee with a good attitude is more valuable than a highly skilled employee who doesn't give a shit."

My immediate goal is to work repairing computers and doing command line diagnosis as well as building tools for clients, you know, simple things to help them along until I find myself learning more intense programming.