Does anyone create fonts?

I am curious to know how you 'create' a font.

I've seen some ads where people are looking for fonts and I am totally confused as to how you would go about doing this. Is there some kind of software that allows you to do this?

you can try this one (not a self promotion), but many others are available
high-logic.com/fontcreator.html

I downloaded free fontbuilder tools... i works great, I now have a personal font...