One of the hardest decision of my life. When I began to choose my career way back when I was in the 7th grade. I started because my class was sponsored by a grant called Gear Up when we started 7th grade. The grant also funded a lot of college awareness, trips, programs, websites, and workshops for our class. The program funded new technology and electronics for both Sherman high school and Sherman junior high school. The school was built in the late 1920’s and it was a high school, then in the 1970’s they renovated it and the old high school became the Jr. High school.
They started the workshops during the first month of school because they had to try to find information on a career we would like to pursue in the future. They gave us facts about why college was important and I thought it would be a great idea to be a lawyer. I thought it was going to be the best job the entire world. The more information I found about this career, the more I thought it was a great idea. However Gear Up did so much more than that for us. On top of finding a career, information they took us to our first college campus tour to West Virginia University of Technology.
They had categories set up so we can get more information about the job we wanted to pursue. I got into the group wanting to know more about business and law and the tour started again. I got to speak with someone in the law profession. He told me about how he also was wanted to be a lawyer, and that he was in his junior year of college, and how it was one of the best decision of his life. He proceeded to explain that trying to get into the program was not going to be easy but it was worth it. We walked around campus to talk with the head professor of the program so he could tell me about the requirements to get into the program.
After we made it to his office he was not there so we just had to go meet back up with the group, and I was quite disappointed with my experience there and didn’t really learn anything about becoming a lawyer. The remainder of the year we didn’t get to do anymore workshops or trips. The idea was then buried. Starting the 9th grade we had to pick an occupation that we may want to do after we graduate high school and college. I thought to myself that now would be a great time to shadow a lawyer so I could find out if this was the job I really would like to do with the rest of my life.
Prior to going on this trip you had to fill out this form about how you’re getting there and you have to make a list of questions, plus tell about your experience. After all of the forms were filed and the paper work was done, you got to pick a date you went. I still remember how excited I was to get to meet a lawyer. So I picked January the 7th. The long and aggravating and stressful wait to get to meet this magnificent person was the worst part about the whole trip. Finally, the day had come. I got up and dressed in formal attire because we had to.
Once at school they called us to the main office and told where we would be going and the time we were leaving. I went right about that meeting didn’t even eat breakfast for the fear of missing the bus. Once I arrived at Workforce Discrimination I had to check in and let my grandmother know, because that’s how I got the meeting. Once I made it to her office, on the 6th floor of the building I started to get my things ready for the interview. After I had everything where I wanted it she proceeded to take me to the 4th floor where the law department was.
We walked back to the very last cubicle and I got to meet a lady named Jane Woodrum. She was a very nice and informational lady. She showed me how she received a case. Then she told me it’s not all fun and games. That’s if you wanted to be a lawyer for a court or large firm big in the future you most likely won’t always get the cases you wanted. For instance something may come across your desk like the male/female will not be remotely innocent. They may have murdered someone in cold blood and they have the weapon motive and more.
Knowing that they most likely killed someone and you know it you still have to defend them and say they didn’t. I knew right then that I could never do something like. Hearing that made the rest of the day less interesting and even bored to where I stopped caring. Just the thought of that made me so unconformable. Once I made it home and was in bed, I had a nightmare about defending a guy who killed three kids and won the case so he walked away free. The next morning I was so relieved it was only a dream. The next morning, I was still kind of shaken up over the dream.
So, I walked down the steps to the living room and told my grandmother about it. Realizing it was only a dream, I thought to myself, what job would I want to have in the future now? After thinking I never came up with an idea. But I knew that I need to think every idea, I have thought before I think it’s a good idea. So I question everything that’s said, or presented to me just to be on the safe side of things. Then I came across the technology. It’s the 21st century and most people have to have the new phones, internet, and just technology overall.
So who wouldn’t be interested in that? I had messed with technology before so during my junior year in high school I decided to take a classes like computer programming, webpage design, and Lab assistant. During that semester I learned all kinds of new thing to do with computer like the basics in programing using Qb64 which was a very basic programing program. You could tell the computer what to say and make simple games and gifs. I also learned how to uses note pad to make webpages. Like Facebook, twitter, and Myspace, etc.
My time assisting the school with minor problems with the computer and the internet taught me a lot about computer, and I enjoyed every moment of it. Then one fateful day the kids just so happen to break their phones while playing outside on the swing set. So, they came in crying. After my grandmother and I got the kids to calm down, then we proceeded to assess the damage. We looked at the phone for 20 minutes and found that the screen was cracked, the home button, and lock button was broken on their iPhone 3Gs. We then looked online to see how easy the part could be replaced and how much it would cost to replace them.
While looking for hours, we came across a website that told us Apple will replace it for free as long as it’s under the warrantee. However we didn’t have a warrantee on the phone when we got it. While we continue to read it said, “Sending it to Apple without a warrantee will cost you $50, plus a working fee which cost most people around $50-250 dollars to have it sent off. After coming to the conclusion that paying that kind of money was ridicules, the next option was to replace it ourselves. After finding all the parts online, we only spent about 20-30 bucks.
Finally everything had come in and we proceeded to take it apart step by step on Google. It took us about three hours to see how to take it apart and get it back to gather. Lastly, when we finally finished it looked better than when we first got it. My senior year of high school was fun, but I hadn’t decided what I wanted to do in college. All of the stuff I did the previous year with the phones and programing was so much fun, I thought that maybe it was a good idea to pursue. Gear Up sponsored our class, so after we finished the year the grant would be gone.
We still had a few workshops left so, I decided to look up a job that worked well with what I have retained over the last two years. I came across not just one job, but two that interested me. The first one is a computer software engineer. The other is a computer hardware engineer. Both jobs may sound the same but they are both different. The website showed you only need a bachelor’s degree in computer science for both careers, so I was hooked. That is how I made my life changing decision to become a computer science major at Marshall University.
