I read a few blogs from other students just now and many mention the Pandemic as a diving board to continue their education. Whether this was because of a need for security, a strong introspection that revealed a need to do something important, a family that needed to elevate their standing (or a plethora of other reasons), is unique to all of us. But we all now have one goal in common; the completion of an amazing course designed for students that have already completed a Bachelor’s degree. My personal reason to continue my education is the fact that I had a lot of trouble finding a job after graduating in 2020 but always had an interest in a software career. During the last semester of my first degree, I moved back home because of the Pandemic. The school went fully on-line and I successfully graduated within three months of that move. I went on to work at a local grocery store for a while and sent out applications after work. This did not prove fruitful for a long time but I eventually found a temp agency that placed me with a home title insurance company. I was not paid super well and there was no room for advancement. The one thing this job offered me though, was time to study by myself and look into other career paths. This is how my initial Python journey started. Sitting at the front desk, when we had no buyers during a very busy period of time for the company, I studied beginner level concepts to wrap my head around what programming consisted of. I also had a close friend from home who is a Software Engineer and his success in the field inspired me to really dedicate myself and learn as much as I could in that time. After about 6 months of this, I decided to quit the job and made the transition to OSU, one of the only on-line options for a CS degree I could find. I really enjoyed the start of the course and I fell in love with CS and programming. I inhaled content and made non-stop efforts to learn as much as I could during the early quarters. Now finally reaching my last quarter here at OSU, I can say I learned a lot and really enjoyed the experience. The skills learned here really are life changing and I obviously will try to remember each and every one of them. This is such a far-cry from my disappointing Business degree, where we learned on paper but did not get any skills to take into the real world. Continuing Into the Future I can gladly say that I now have a job secured for July of this year at Optum Tech. During my time at OSU I had the amazing opportunity to work two internships with them. Each came with their own trials, the first one fully on-line and very hard to work as a team, and the second one more intense and in-person. I will forever be grateful that I found OSU and the impact it, and all the professors, have made on my life.
Leave a Reply