The beginning
After graduating highschool, I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to do. At that time, I was not aware that computer science was really a thing. I was briefly exposed to programming when I was in high school, but it seemed a bit daunting so I never really considered it after that point. My mother had been floating the idea that I should pursue nursing. Apparently, the projected job growth of this field was significantly higher than average. With no other competing choices, I decided to pursue nursing. “I was always interested in science”, I thought. And helping people was a nice thing too. That was all the justification I needed, albeit, a faulty justification. You see, I wasn’t exactly the most social person, and therein lay the problem.
Nursing
To make a long story short, I took the prerequisite courses and did well enough to be accepted into a nursing program. This was a 2 year program for a total of 4 semesters. Each semester consisted of a clinical portional as well as an instructional portion. While I always did well academically, in the clinical setting, I never felt comfortable but I managed to make it through the program. After graduating, I found it difficult to land a job in the hospital. This was mostly due to my poor ability in answering the behavioral interview questions. Eventually, I found a job in an office as a Public Health Nurse.
First Job
At this job, I did medical case management for a statewide program. My job mostly consisted of two roles. I was the person who screened new applications for the program and I also performed typical case management. After about a year, I decided to head down a different path in life. At first, I was exploring my options at brick-and-mortar schools. I found that there was a path where I could take community college classes to apply for a second bachelor’s degree in CS. There were really only 2 public universities that offered this. I also had this belief that public universities must first address the needs of incoming high school students and transfer students over people like me. This was a worrying idea and it was always in the back of my mind. A few semesters into taking the prerequisite courses, I, by chance, decided to look at the public university’s page about second bachelors. Lo and behold, they no longer offered it. I had to rethink my options now.
Thanksgiving
It is now the week of Thanksgiving and my brother is home for the week. My younger brother had already been working in industry for 2 years at that point. At that point, I think I had already applied to the program for the Winter of 2020 and was accepted. I still had reservations because it was online and online programs have a certain reputation. On Thanksgiving day, this topic is brought up for discussion. I tell my brother about this program and he does a bit of research and looks at the curriculum. He says it looks decent enough and gave me the green light. The cloud of uncertainty that was looming over my head was now gone. I felt pretty happy that night until I got a text. It was from my girlfriend and she said that she wanted to break up. It was a bittersweet day. That was November 2019. I was set to start the program in Winter 2020. And the rest is history.
