When I grow up I want to be........
- What did you want to be?
- What inspired you?
- Did you become what you wanted to be or did you do something different?
- - was that deliberate or simply the way things worked out?
- Did you follow your childhood dream and it not be at all what you though?
When I first read this topic, it took me back to primary or elementary school. I think it was in grade 1, we had to draw and cut out us dressed in what we wanted to become. Problem wasn't that I didn't know, but how on Earth did you draw an astronaut? I asked the teacher and she didn't know, so I had to pick something else and didn't know what. I sat there almost the entire time thinking...what can I become. The only thing else was a cowgirl because I liked the thought of riding on a horse all day long. It was done quickly as most of the time everyone else had I sat there thinking of what I could do, so had very little time left to actually do the work. These were to be used for Parent/Teacher conferences so you can take your parents over to where you sit and talk about what you want to become. The thing is we never went because my mother had to work, so the whole thing was work gone to waste. As if that wasn't enough of a disappointment, but my desk was the only desk that wasn't touched - everyone had basically nothing left on the desk, but mine was still sitting there as I left it the day before. Talk about not being like everyone else.
Then as I was growing up, I loved the library so I had thought of going to work in one of those. However, I'm a loud person when I get going, so a quiet library and me just didn't work well together.
As time went on, I found typewriters, which lead to talk about business and banking and then eventually computers. I thought about becoming a bank teller but that seemed boring. Then I thought about being a business person, but thought it wasn't varied enough for me. I didn't mind the financial side of things, so I decided to see if I could do something with computers, financials and business. This lead me to grade 11 and I wanted to go to the Vocational Center, also called BOCES to us.I already had a few classes of business taken, so I figured a computer class with business was pretty good and that lead me to Business Computer Technology which I completed by the time I finished year 12. I found I was good at it and even went to a conference where we competed against each other and tied for 5th in all of the state of New York for Financial Information Processing.
By the time I attended Orange County Community College in Middletown, NY, I was feeling pretty confident only to have that dashed the first few terms as the requirements had doubled from what I was used to, so I was feeling a bit like a fish out of water. However, within 3 years, I was actually tutoring other students, helping in the labs and doing pretty good in my courses. In 1994 I completed my Associates degree in Computer Information Systems.
I did start at SUNY of Technology at Utica/Rome in Rome, NY, but found I just didn't have enough financial help to actually continue. Topped with that, I had met my husband and had planned on getting married.
Since then, I have strived to be apart of different aspects of the IT world - however, we have a love/hate relationship - I love the stuff but companies hate or don't like my qualifications enough to let me keep or give me a job in that field.
In 2013, I decided to take another hobby I was doing - our personal website - and get a Certificate 4 in Web Based Technologies which includes creating websites. I finished the course in 2014, with a High Distinction based grade. I am currently waiting for my certificate to arrive in the mail. I'm now gearing up to go out and see if I can get a position in the business world doing this type of work.
So to answer the overall question, I guess I'm still trying to grow up and figure out what I want to be...
I cannot believe how hard it is to get into this field. I chose this field because I figured with the changing in technologies, it would be easier to get a position but I'm finding that its almost impossible. It is a real let down, but I feel if I can get a start with a business who isn't going to sell half of its business or there's another financial crisis I will be fine in this type of employment.
