Believe it or not, obtaining a computer science degree was not my first, second or third choice when graduating high school. I had this masterful plan to get a degree in music education, then move into architecture and finish my career as a professional chef.
After graduating high school, I went straight into my first step of the three-step plan. I went through the music education course at Central Washington University, obtaining a degree in music education, broad area specialization. This just means I had a certificate that says I can teach band, orchestra, choir, and general music. Fancy, I know. As soon as I graduated, I landed a job teaching music full time in the K-5 grade setting. I loved teaching and loved every minute with those students. During this time, I also founded a robotics club for the school and taught select 4th and 5th graders to program robots to perform tasks. This was a fun experience as I have always and a general interest in computers and coding and was able to make it a side hobby while doing one of the things I loved which was teaching music.
As time went on, my wife and I needed a change of pace and a change of scenery. What’s that saying? “Best laid plans….” Well, we decided to make a change and, in this change, presented a unique opportunity to change location and change careers. You might be thinking to yourself, “Ah, architecture is next.” Obviously, you would be completely wrong. Both of us landed jobs working for a community college in central Washington. The job I landed was working with the technology department and the music department. It seemed like a dream job at the time, the best of both worlds.
While I appreciated the opportunity to learn all these amazing new skills at this new job, it did leave me feeling unsatisfied in the technical aspects of the technology department. I wanted to know more and learn to do what some of my coworkers were doing. Now enter Oregon State Post Bac Online program. Wow! I can use my already obtained degree of music education to go after a shiny new degree in computer science?! Neat-o! But, what is that saying? “Best laid plans….”
Naturally, a baby entering our world (which we are both over the moon about), slowed down the journey, and I even began to question if I should continue with the degree. Good news, I decided to continue with the degree AND I haven’t lost all my hair or sanity in the process. Success, right? After starting in 2021, I finally am enrolled in my last quarter of this program. There have been many emotions as I went through this interesting change in my life, but I am here, and I am proud to be here.
As I work through this quarter, I hope you enjoy reading the updates that this capstone has to offer.
-Cheers!
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