I've been programming full time in a commercial environment for 12 years now; before that I did a degree in Computing, with a specialisation in Programming. Below is a brief 'potted history'.

1992-1996 - degree

2:1 Degree in Computing Science, with a specialisation in Programming at the University of Hertfordshire.

1994 - oxford instruments

For part of my degree in the 1990s, I did a year in industry working for Oxford Instruments, working with their particle accelerators & neutron generators, which involved some programming plus other experience.

1996-2000 - teletext management systems

I started off my working life as a programmer for a company as a C++ programmer, maintaining Teletext Management Systems for companies such as the BBC etc. This was exciting, with a lot of responsibility. These were effectively content management & delivery systems for Teletext, so I've been doing CMS since 1996.

april 2000 to present - freelance

In April 2000 I turned Freelance, focusing more on Internet Programming (although still keeping up C++). Initially I focused on ASP / MS SQL / Access as this was the 'main' language at the time, but, over time, I've focused more on PHP as this has been used by more and more people. Now a days, although I get asked about ASP and ASP.NET sometimes, I am mainly asked for PHP skills, but that doesn't mean I can't do ASP or ASP.NET.

I have worked freelance full time since April 2000 without a gap (except holidays) - I don't have a part time job where I go into a company a day or two a week - I'm at my desk during normal office hours throughout the week (except meetings & holidays).

I don't take excessively long holidays - just those that are needed to maintain fresh to work effectively.