Remember these guys? This is what the stereotypical view was/is of what a "nerd" looks like. Developers today are a much different class of people for sure. I have met some pretty cool people over the past year that certainly do not fit the bill. Fishing enthusiast, cigar aficionados, gear heads and others who love to grab a guitar and rock out. The definition has certainly changed from what your parents might consider a nerd.
A lot of developers have the same story; grew up messing around with a Commodore 64 or something of the sort, tinkered with this or that technology, studied Computer Science in college and then moved into the professional world. And if you read my Me page, my story is not that different.
It's interesting to talk to the other developers in the community and see what they do in their "off" time. Me, enjoy anytime with my wife and a glass of wine, hop on the Harley go for a ride, spend time with the kiddies at the pool, build some legos, visit the guys at the tattoo shop and get some ink, and most recently took a bunch of teenagers to the Flo-rida concert at the Microsoft Store grand opening in Orlando. Not what some would expect from a guy who spends a good portion of his life buried in code.
I'm not what you think of when it comes to a developer. At my first meeting for the Orlando Windows Phone User Group I was taking a picture with the guys who authored "Sam's Teach Yourself Windows Phone Application Development in 24 hours" and Joe Healy said "...make sure the tats show!"
When people see me, they probably would never guess what I do for a living. That I love gadgets, read technical blogs, spend hours learning new technology, or stay up at night wondering what's the next Windows Phone or Windows 8 app I'm gonna try.
The best part for me...my kids think what I do is cool! My wife supports me in everything I do and I couldn't ask for more. I have a good thing, I love what I do and they love me.
So yes I'm a Nerd...but I might scare your kids.
What do you do in your off time? I'm curious...
2016 Update
All still true (Except the Windows Phone part)- love it all, it's all changing as fast as you can learn it. Nowadays the talk is node.js, ASP.NET Core, Angular 2 and Docker.
