I have been saving for a year now... the last year of university, living on my own in the centre of Amsterdam would drive my cost up I knew it. Part of it is on my mothers shoulders. She pays my insurance, and my movie-theatre license. I take care of the rest.

Still, I have no cable, and technically no Internet (I steal from the neighbours.) I have no subscriptions and shop as low-budget as possible. I have been doing that for a year now and it's working out so far... but now I need a job still

lol at esmoreit's theft^.

i've had some huge changes in the last year - family breakups, blah blah lol... this summer i'm getting ready for a move to a new city, a change in my degree and i'm leaving behind everything i've ever known :3 its scary. and il probably change my mind in a few weeks about it, but i know that if/when i get fed up with it i can just go do something else :D

change is scary. but it can be good.

i dont know what god's own country is.. but im moving to glasgow yah. scared cos its a hell of a lot bigger and darker than edinburgh, and less green. im just having cold feet about it all just now, cos its taking so long to sort out so i have time to think about it :S

Just the future economy. Saving 30-40 grand over the next 10 years just seemed like a smart move. Who knows if I will get laid off, or the company I work for goes out of business.

I live in a house that I currently owe 20-30 thousand more then it's worth. Not sure how that's going to play out in the future. I live in a community where if I lose my job, I have to move (only one place in town does software development). So, just a lot of variables that worry me. 

I figure there is no downside to reducing my expenses :)

Oh, and Squailliam, no. A sun roof just doesn't cut it. The convertible is to keep me off a bike. It works well. Sunroof != open air driving :)

Oooh, you're a programmer?

My uncle is in a very similar boat to you, except he has a genuine threat, rather than "just in case", see, he programs in a language called Pres. It's a dieing language, but because it's dieing, and he's one of the few that know how to program with it, he can demand a lot of money for his services.

Unfortunately, because it's a dieing language, he knows that within the next 5-10 years his skills won't be demanded anymore. He's got a wife and two (young) kids, and he knows he's going to be in quite some financial trouble in the years to come.

He lives at his means, though. He's bought a house in an expensive area because of the money he's making now, he's living quite an expensive lifestyle, which he can maintain at the moment, but won't be able to in the future.

So he's trying to diversify, getting into a lot of the web stuff, now, but because it's a big industry, lots of people can do it, and so he still won't be able to demand as much money. He's also not learning at a massively rapid pace, because he doesn't need to for the next few years, at least.

I, too, am looking to getting into the computing industry, though I'm not sure which area. I'm probably going to study pure computing science at university, and go from there on out.

Yea, in this industry, it's best to constantly look ahead.

When I started (17 years ago), I was a C++ Unix developer. When .NET came out 8 or so years ago, I realized that's the future, so I learned it, and am now a .NET C# developer. I am now learning Objective-C, and iPhone development. This will set me up for the Mac world, just in case they become the norm.

But good OO design is good OO design. It does not matter what language you work in. I have no idea what Pres is, so not sure he has those skills. For you however, general development skills is what's important. The language can be learned later. Your plan is the right one.

Oh, and the fun thing about iPhone development, is anyone can do it, as long as you have a mac. For $100 and a mac, you're setup to sell software on the app store. You can actually develop for free, you just need to pay to put the code on a device (otherwise, you use the emulator on the mac). I just now need a good idea for an app :)

A bar code scanner that then compares the price of the product to other local stores?

Or an app that works with Google maps which downloads the menus and stuff from restaurants as you go through towns, so you can always find a good place to eat?

Or an app that can tell you how to get to another destination, but it can offer loads of different options, like the cheapest option, the fastest option, the greenest option, that kind of thing.

You just need to think about inconveniences in life, and think how those problems can be solved.

1. RedLaser does this. It could be better, so I could try and make a better one.

2. Yelp does this very well.

3. TomTom is about to come out on the iPhone, and they will do this. Also, something like that would take a lot more effort then one man.

If i could come up with something that 1% of owners would buy and cost 99 cents, after apple takes there cut, I would make $300,000.

It's amazing. Nothing before has been so easy to get into, and make money, if you just have a good idea anyway. :) 

Heh, I have no idea what's already available for the iPhone, I don't really care to own one.

Mind you, $300,000 is nothing to sniff at... I may need to get a slice of that.

I know lots of people that are getting in on the iphone bandwagon. One of my mates is developing a poker game or something.

Thats the great thing about huge userbases, you only need a very small amount of people to buy your product to make some nice cash.