What was your first real, paid job? I started designing websites for people in the fall of 1998. I don't know if I'd count that or not just because I didn't make that much. But, I suppose it counts. After that, I started creating and managing my own websites, in early 2000. Of course, I didn't make much there, either, for quite a while. But, one of those two would be it. The only time I've worked for someone else was when I tried to do tech support for a web host. I only did that a couple weeks, though, as I just didn't have the knowledge.