Hey there, Rich.

Yes, thanks for sharing your story. It is very interesting and a bit sad at the same time. I'm glad you've learned about yourself in that whole process.

From one software engineer to another, there is nothing wrong with:
- Being intelligent
- Working hard in school and getting one of the most challenging and sought after degrees today - Computer Science
- Having a highly marketable skill that is useful in nearly every industry today
- Having one of the highest paying jobs in society. And I mean we're in the 95th percentile or something like that.

The "friends" who made fun of you for being a s/w engr, are obviously too narrow minded and/or aren't successful in their own careers so they need to make fun of someone who is. Tell people like them to talk to the hand.

By the way, it is not necessary that software engineers can't be "cool" or can't be good at other things. I know quite a few "cool" software engineers One of them sleeps in my bed.

Anyway, I totally second you getting another degree ... anything that you're interested in ... why not !

Also, one thing wasn't entirely clear to me ... hope you can clarify ... why do you feel that you can't date ? I understand that you can't make decisions and that people mistreat you, but why does any of that mean you can't date ?

You can certainly at least have female friends, no ?

You just need to connect with other intellectuals, that's all. Forget the dumbasses who can't hold up an intelligent conversation for 5 minutes. You need to find people like you, who can.