Wow, I am in awe by you guys! Did not know that IT was such a common profession here.
I was taught programming by people like you, but in England. I always admired those who worked in computing back when it needed serious brains... I got in just when object oriented programming kicked off, meaning you did not have to be seriously clever to be a programmer anymore. The senior guys called it "Donald Duck programming" because it was so simple, according to them. I never got very good at C++ even though I gave it a shot, just to show myself I had the brains..

Anixx, wouldn't mind taking your mother to lunch if I am ever in Moscow! Hope she is healthy and well in retirement. I would probably find her career endlessly fascinating, particularly in light of her being a woman.

I did not know that computing was so accessible to regular people in the USSR. Some aspects of USSR life seemed a little bit old fashioned, and there was lots of talk about how cool products that people wanted, sometimes were not available in the socialist countries. So I guess I just assumed that people did not have computers, at least not at home. Sounds like I was wrong about that. It's very cool to think that the Eastern European computer industry made the computer parts from scratch, rather than importing from Taiwan, Korea, Japan etc. Too bad they did not continue with that. It is a bit creepy that in Europe (and America) we are no longer able to put together a computer from scratch. We are 100% dependant on parts that only Asian countries have the know-how to assemble.