I started in games, which is a good place to learn that software either runs or it doesn't. Three years of game development at LBS, then two years of game programming at Forsbergs, then 40 weeks inside Trolldom's C++ engine writing debugging tools, gameplay features and performance work — and staying on as a freelancer afterwards.
These days the work is less engine, more consequence: internal systems for legal services, where invoicing and case tracking have to be right rather than clever. I like that constraint. It's the same discipline as engine work, pointed at someone's actual business.
Outside of that I build my own things end to end, and I spent years in restaurants and nightlife before this, which is where I learned to read a room and solve problems while everything is already on fire.