I started 'programming' when I was in my 3th year of secondary school (don't know how it is called in england). I wasn't that good in remembering formula's for physics classes, so I wrote a program on my calculator that would let me select what I needed, what variable I was missing and then gave the result + formula.
From that moment I knew that programming would be my future :p.

Still a future that needs work though. I'm now programming for three years. I've started with c++, but I didn't really like that. I've switched to java, c#, php etc in the years after that.
My favourite langauge until now is java.

What would you consider an experianced programmer?

Every programmer who can be called a programmer is experienced with something. Edward would call a programmer experienced in a specific area if he's worked on more than one project focused on that area that isn't trivial. Demos, test programs, and toy programs would be trivial in this case.

>>What would you consider an experianced programmer?

My answer would be someone who knows his math and can see the thin line between programming and mathematics.

Someone who no longer has to ask that question.
When you have done some programming at school you're NOT an experienced programmer.

When you've done it full time as a job for 5 years you probably are.