Today marks my third wedding anniversary. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This time of year, in recent history at least, has been important for more reasons than the one I just mentioned. My son, our first child, was born a month before our first wedding anniversary. A few months later I was laid off of work. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I spent a lot of time back then contemplating returning to school and studying computer science. It abruptly became a necessity. The career progress I had made over the prior two years went from a rapid river to a slowed stream, and a dried-up bed in a matter of months. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I was back at square one. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I spent years in restaurants, working my way up into management positions where I was fortunate to be mentored by many great leaders. Everything I learned about leadership came from those people. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
When my wife and I moved to New York City, I sought out new opportunities. I ended up in electronics manufacturing making accessories for bass guitars. We were a well-known and respected boutique shop. Our equipment looked good and as far as I knew, not being a musician myself, sounded good. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Though my time there didn’t lead to a career elsewhere like I imagined it would, I appreciated it. I enjoyed working alongside our engineers and wished I was doing their work more than I was mine. Returning to school to be an electrical engineer didn’t seem realistic, however. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
With a push from my brother who was applying to master’s programs to study computer science, I reflected on when I was in high school and I was learning programming as a hobby. I wasn’t very good but it was something I enjoyed. It also was similar enough to the problem-solving and creating that I was daydreaming about. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
So while I was just contemplating about returning to school and studying computer science, being laid off forced my hand. I had researched some programs beforehand. Oregon State University offered a post-bacc program that seemed like a great fit for me. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I immediately signed up for a Udemy course in Python. If I was going to apply and enroll in school again, I wanted to make sure I knew what I was getting myself into. I wanted to make sure I would enjoy it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I loved it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, here I am two years later. I’m about to begin working on my capstone project. It’s the last course that I have before I graduate. This wouldn’t be possible without the support of my wife. I owe her a great deal and attribute most of my success to her. I know that she is excited for this chapter to almost be over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As I reflect back over the last two years, I think about them fondly. I’ve non-stop been learning about something that I’ve grown to love and excel at. The future looks bright. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
For those of you that are aspiring or current software engineers, you know that now is also a heavy recruitment period in the industry. I’ve been fortunate to go to OSU. The knowledgeable community of current students and alumni has been paramount in preparing for this moment. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
So as I look forward to completing this capstone, I hope to create something I am proud of. I hope to refine the skills I have, and I hope to learn many more along the way. And as I continue my job hunt, I hope to learn from my mistakes and relish in many successes but know that I will cherish even just one. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Today marks my third wedding anniversary. This time of year, in recent history at least, has been important for more reasons than the one I just mentioned. My son, our first child, was born a month before our first wedding anniversary. A few months later I was laid off of work. I spent a lot […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11633,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/rayls\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/rayls\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/rayls\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/rayls\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11633"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/rayls\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/rayls\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/rayls\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5\/revisions\/9"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/rayls\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/rayls\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.oregonstate.edu\/rayls\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}