I understand the whole events and callbacks side of it, which is something I really enjoy about working with jQuery & DOM. It just is a little different for me to think of a server side language that is capable of doing that when I have been developing in PHP for 7 years now.

Thanks so much for your reply. I really appreciate your feedback.

I have been learning things that can add to my current programming practices, and I know that Node.js can be another one of those things. I'm going to implement a little Node.js here and there in my clients projects to start to get the hang of it. I started to learn Ruby through Treehouse, but I just didn't really care for the style all too well. I think if I were to learn another language it would probably be Python.

I keep hearing a lot about MongoDB. I should look into it some more. Especially since I won a startup pack that had a $1000 credit to MongoHQ. I also got a $1000 credit to EngineYard and $500 to to Code Climate, but since I don't develop in Ruby I haven't found a use for them.

Thanks again for taking the time to respond and give me some things to think about. I know if I want to be apart of a startup I am going to need to have a base knowledge of a lot of different technologies. Right now, sticking with what I do best is working, but I think it will only work for so long before I get bored and sick of it.

Out of interest, what are you working on?

And what did you do to win that competition?

One of the projects I had to sign an NDA, so unfortunately I can't tell you. I know, I know, stealth is stupid, but it wasn't my choice. The other project is a web application to help Property Managers find tenants for their vacant units and also help tenants find property to rent, I know it has been done before, but the client has a few ideas for features that he hasn't seen others do.

As for the competition, it has http://www.startuppack.org it was more of a drawing than anything, but I had to submit my application via their API. I won quite a bit of cool stuff and will utilize most of it, but some I won't. I'm just happy to have won, I've never won anything big like that before.

You're welcome. Sounds like a good plan, keep going! :)

Thanks! I'm surprised I hadn't heard of that.

I like to put on Netflix on my iPad, but only if I'm doing something that doesn't take too much thinking.

Have any of you ever been to: http://coding.fm/ ? I don't think I could listen to that for very long at all.

I've been listening to a lot of Sigur Ros lately too. Although it has lyrics, I can't understand them and the music seems more instrumental.

Environment is huge for me too, but when I can't control it as I would like, a good pair of earbuds helps to block everything out. Lyrics distract me at times too.

I've used Songza before, its pretty sweet. I think I even found a coding playlist on it?

Thanks for sharing! That playlist looks great!

Not sure why more people didn't want to get in on this discussion. I'm sure its probably been brought up before.

I went to college and stopped after I got my Associates because I had already landed a job in the software development world without my degree. Since then I have a few different programming and design jobs, I currently own my own development company that is doing better and better every month. Anyways, if I decided to go work for someone and they didn't hire me because I didn't have a BA or better, I probably wouldn't want to work for them anyways. I would like to work for someone that believes that experience speaks louder than a degree, because in my eyes, it does. A degree just shows you went through a structured learning experience.

Fantastic point. I think that pretty much sums up my hesitation on continuing, why would I work for a company that doesn't care about me and my experience?

Best of luck with your Development Company and I appreciate the feedback.

Good Luck to you too, and its good to see you started young. I started college when I was 16, landed my first real development job at 17, and have been working in the field ever since. I think in certain situations, being younger is more of an advantage than a disadvantage. I'm 22 now and when people see how much experience I have, they are surprised. I'm sure that's how it will be for you, if its not like that already.