Vienna Teng writes, "When I was working on writing a song the other day, I thought, when it gets down to the actual act of piecing lyrics and chord structures and songs together, it's really not that different from software design."

Read this Artima.com interview with singer/songwriter Vienna Teng:

http://www.artima.com/intv/escape.html

Vienna Teng, a 24 year old Java programmer at Cisco, landed a record contract, quit her day job to pursue her passion in music, and before long ended up on the Dave Letterman show.

How did she do it? In this first Artima.com interview with a former programmer, I ask Vienna Teng how she became interested in music, why she chose computer science over medicine, and how she not only chased after her dream but managed to catch it at such an early age. Along the way, she compares song writing with software design.

that's great and all, but her music is very dissapointing.

Thanks to Bill Venners for a really good interview. I found out about Vienna when she played at a music listening room near my home and work in Cary NC. Immediately I was hooked. By her talent on piano, by the quality of her voice, and by her songwriting. I enjoy learning all I can about my new favorite artist! I hope your articles help get the word out about her growing career.