I learned to program on my own because I wanted to make a video game... which btw I never actually did. But the journey itself was great. I learned 5 years of visual basic 6. and eventually moved to c++. I was actually teaching kids that were in school that couldn't get a grasp on understanding it. And through that it gave me a few other ideas that I was excited about at the time.

I learned about 3d modeling through this as well. I needed to understand how 3d objects were made, and how they are used in a game. So I found a free 3d modeling program which I still think is the best thing out there, called Anim8or. Once I got proficient enough in the program, I then learned anatomy. That's right. I learned how to fucking draw the human body just so I can make a model of an alien that I did in fact put in a program.

Side projects - I bought a camera because I wanted my own textures. But I didn't know shit about cameras. and from that I started to grasp art along with learning how to use my camera. But I also got it because I was interested in astrophotography.

Then I learned Photoshop which i still love. I got overly proficient in it. I know more about color than even your favorite Photoshop professional. I've made color tutorials for an elite group of photographers on a specific website. those tutorials are still used today, and this was made when Photoshop elements 2 was still a thing.

That program I made ended up being a screensaver showing a wireframe of it rotating. But it was cool as shit. It was my creation, and made me feel like I was living in the future. There was no one else on earth that had this screensaver - made in visual basic...

I learned so much about visual basic that I knew and understood it's flaws. it was basically bloatware because of a lack of true inheritance. Most games were being made in c++

And I eventually pitched it all out the window when .net came. I didn't want to feed the Microsoft monster any more of my own money when I wasn't making a dime from it myself. Mainly because I was short on ideas and knew that making a worthy video game takes a team of developers. But maybe someday I'll go back to it, if I find an idea worthy of my time....