Blog #1 – How Did I Get Here?

I always find it interesting to hear people’s stories for why and how they get involved in the technology field. I’ve found that there are a lot of individuals who didn’t imagine coding, hardware, or information technology to be their future profession when growing up. That describes me as well and I thought it would be fun to share my story.

Growing up, my goal was always to be a wildlife biologist. I studied Ecology for my first degree and eventually got a part-time job as a Field Biologist. It wasn’t mentally stimulating enough for me and I quickly outgrew the position. It never felt like a field that I could make a career from.

One day I discovered Python programming when my brother was working on his Computer Science homework. I still remember seeing the code and thinking how cool it looked. I ended up having my brother teach me some of the basics. After a few attempts, I ended up building my first useful program. It was a click counter program that I could use when reviewing video of Whitetail Deer (clicking each time they performed a behavior). It was very simple, just a red box that I could click on and it’d update the counter. Building that simple program was one of the most satisfying things that I’d done and I was hooked.

For the next week or so, I began researching ways to get into the field of Computer Science. I ultimately decided to apply for Oregon State’s Post-Baccalaureate program. To my excitement, I was accepted into the program. My brother was so happy and I still remember the sound in his voice when I told him news. I can firmly say that I made the right choice to join this program and I’m glad I took the chance.