

Do long in the tooth programmers get drawn to neuroscience? - aaronrc

I've been a professional programmer for 13 years and studied electronic engineering at uni. In the last few years I've developed this urge to learn more about the brain and neuroscience even though biology and medical sciences have never interested me in the past.<p>I think after programming machines for a long time the natural extension is to want to learn more about the "computer" inside one's head. Is that a common feeling or just me?
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maxharris
What does it matter if your interest is common for people with your background
or not? I would be just as happy if I knew I were the only one in the world
that was interested in something, or if I were one of millions with the same
interest. Trust yourself and your own mind.

Having said that, I know or have heard of several people that have gone from
EE/CS into neuroscience. One of my friends is a programmer and EE graduate
like you. He spent quite a bit of time studying neuroscience and taking
biology/chemistry prereqs as a grad student recently. Jeff Hawkins (Palm,
Numenta, wrote a book called On Intelligence) is yet another person that fits
the pattern. Does this mean anything important? I don't think so, _unless_
you're contemplating changing careers. I think it's just that this is a
relatively new but promising field (I know it's over a century old, but bear
with me), just like molecular biology was the hot thing to get into during the
50s if you were into physics.

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stray
13 years == long in the tooth?

