>> My point is actually this: I know about data compression, cryptology, 
>> DSP, complex numbers, statistics, logic circuits, numerical 
>> integration, sound synthesis, differential calculus, functional 
>> programming, data structures and algorithms... I could go on. Now, who 
>> *the hell* is going to care about any of these things?
> 
> Nobody.  95% of what I know I won't use in my job.  In another job it 
> might be a different 5% that I use, but it's not going to be much more 
> than that.

I said "any", not "all".

It seems difficult to imagine a job which requires numerical integration 
*and* cryptology, for example. But personally, I can't imagine getting 
hired for a job where even one of the above is useful. I mean, sure, 
somebody somewhere designs ICs for a living. And somebody, somewhere 
else, designs bridges. Have *you* ever met a bridge designer??

>> Heh, if only I could *find* thousands of IT jobs! :-P
> 
> monster.co.uk "IT support" gives several thousand.

Yeah, that's what I'm saying; maybe I should look at support instead of 
programming.

>> Actually, I've been thinking about this one. Maybe I'm setting my 
>> sights too high. Maybe I just need to accept that nobody is ever going 
>> to pay me to write computer programs,
> 
> See to me you don't seem like the type that would enjoy someone 
> pressuring you every day to get some code finished and out the door 
> (that you might not be 100% happy with), you seem to prefer the more 
> relaxed "hobby" attitude of programming (as do I).

Possibly.

> a) Almost any "boring sysadmin job" is going to pay more than you are 
> getting now.

Wouldn't be hard, eh? ;-)

> b) I suspect quite a lot of sysadmin jobs would give you the opportunity 
> to write programs at a more leisurely pace than if it was your main job.

Well, my current sysadmin job does...

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