It seems as though I've been forced out of my blogging retirement by Alex.

How old were you when you first started programming?
When I was in 9th grade I took an elective computer programming course.  So I was whatever age a 9th grader is.

How did you get started in programming?
As stated above I took a computer programming course in 9th grade.  It was fun, and made me think in ways that I thought were interesting.  I took the course through my high school years but never got too serious.  When I went to college I picked a computer related major since it seemed to be where all the cool kids were headed.  Or more accurately, where all the people who wanted to make decent money upon graduation were headed.

What was your first language?
My memory is terrible.  I think we had some high tech Apple Classic's in our computer lab and we were using Apple Pascal, or maybe it was Basic.  I forget, but it was kickass!

What was the first real program you wrote?
I remember creating a blackjack game in that first computer programming course.  It had a pretty killer GUI!

On the more "real" side, I think one of the first real programs I wrote was a content management / tv scheduling system for CN8 (www.cn8.tv).  It was one of the first projects I worked on after graduating, and was written in *classic* ASP!  I hear some people actually still have ASP applications that they're porting to .NET, not sure what they've been doing for the last 6 years since .NET came out but hey I'm getting off topic.

What languages have you used since you started programming?
This depends greatly upon what "used" means.

Basic, C, COBOL, Visual Basic (all varieties), Java, Javascript, Python, Ruby, C#, SQL (T/PL)

What was your first professional programming gig?
I worked at a web consulting company named Image Refinery Productions (later renamed to Refinery).  I did a lot of web programming, specifically content management systems, document management, intranets, and other custom business applications.  I had the joy of working with *classic* ASP early on, along with some Visual Basic sprinkled in.  Once .NET rolled around I quickly grabbed a hold of it and didn't let go.

If you knew then what you know now, would you have started programming?
Definitely.  I would have taken some different courses in college and would have majored in Computer Science instead of Computer Information Systems (CIS) but I'd definitely go down the programming route again.

If there is one thing you learned along the way that you would tell new developers, what would it be?
The biggest problems in the software development world have to do with people, not technologies.  Learn how to work with people, understand the people who you are building software for, and create software that helps them kick ass.  Let the technology fade into the background.  Learn new technologies, don't be scared to leave your comfort zone.  Finally, if you don't love being a programmer/developer find something you do love. 

What's the most fun you've ever had ... programming?
Hrm, very tough question.  I've had lots of fun over the years.  I'll think about it and get back to you.

I'll tag:
Aaron Feng
Brian Donahue
Sam Gentile
Kyle Burton
Jonathan Tran
Toby DiPasquale