I think its might be interesting to ask how long everyone has been doing this stuff?
I'm at 32 years. I too have many times been amazed that I get paid for doing what I love.
I built a rudimentary darkroom in the root cellar in 1968, when I was 14. We lived near a large air force base in New Brunswick, Canada, which also had a number of US air force personnel stationed there. One of them was a neighbour and kindly lent me his 4x5 speed graphic and 35mm Exacta, as well as a 35mm enlarger.
After three years of photography school, I started in business in 1975 as a photojournalist covering the political scene in Ottawa. I mostly do architecture now, as well as a mix of industrial, corporate and aerial photography.
Here is a recent project shot with a 5D11, 17mm TSE for the interior and 24 TSE for the exterior.
People sometimes ask me when I plan to retire. I tell them I have never had a job, so I can't very well retire!