 How did you get started in hacking/programming?
btilly: My wife and I were both grad students and got dissatisfied.  She went to medical school, I looked for a job suitable to someone in his late 20s dropping out of a math PhD with a Masters.The first job I found was a programming job at a churn and burn consultancy.  A couple of months in I was asked to learn Perl.  I took that skill to be better job.  There I encountered a good programmer who got me started on reading (and incorporating) classics like Code Complete.Everything else flowed from that.