Hello, my name is Jerome Cagado. I am a post-baccalaureate student currently working as a Federal Investigator for the Department of Defense. I am pursuing a career transition into the field of Computer Science. I am currently enrolled in my last semester at Oregon State University, and I hope to complete this transition by the end of the year.
I have always had a passion for technology and understanding how things work. I am fascinated by coding and how each line of code connects to the next. This is my second chance at not only graduating with a Computer Science degree but also at coding in general. Ten years ago, I was a Computer Science major at the University of Maryland. I struggled hard. I was lost, confused, and simply could not understand Java. I did not have the tools nor did I know where to find them. I thought my dream of becoming a computer programmer was over.
Ten years later, I moved from Maryland to Seattle. I met Software Engineers and interviewed them for my job, and I was amazed at how normal they seemed. I often thought of them as people who were simply smarter than me. I have a friend, Diwas, who told me, “Hey man, you have what it takes, go do it.” For some reason, that resonated with me and reignited a fire in me that I thought was lost. This was in 2021 during the Covid Pandemic. In January 2022, I decided to go back to school and get my Computer Science degree. Today is June 19, 2024, and I am two classes away from achieving that goal.
With all that said, I welcome you to join me in my world and follow along as I blog about my last semester at Oregon State University. I will talk about what I learned, the struggles, and what changed from my first attempt to my second attempt. Welcome to my blog post, transitioning into Tech.