My Path

Growing up I had a dream of what I wanted to do in my life. It was far from what I am doing now.

Growing up

I wanted to be an NFL player with a massive house that you had to have a golf cart to get around. It would even have a McDonald’s in it. Yea, that was what I wanted when I was younger.

Yea, that never played out. I don’t even have a golf cart.

Teenage years

Things turned around when I realized my NFL career wouldn’t be happening. I just wanted to find a way to make money. That is when someone came to my high school to talk about college and things to go into. They said people who went into business could be making $84,000 right out of school. That really made me think.

Stepping back

I was told by so-called experts that I need to have a career in being something I didn’t want to be. I am not going to say what it was, but I never wanted that. They also said I would be good at computer programing as long as I was well supervised. You know that Micro-Manager style of job.

Nope, that isn’t me.

Jobs

I found that I liked to work in the background, not out in the front. I worked in the receiving department at ShopKo, which was fun and always busy. I knew everyone in the store and they knew me. Something like that was beginning to look like something I could do.

I worked these jobs while I was pursuing my business degree. I got that and it didn’t make me the $84,000 right out of school.

My way up

I was working my way up to do things I really enjoyed. Then 9/11 happened and well I was looking for a job. Not what I wanted to do. The path I was on was what I really wanted to do.

Not what I wanted

To do was go to a call center, you know that place where people call in and yell at you. But, when you have a family you need support you will do anything. So I went and learned something called FrontPage.

This just sparked my interest in the internet and what can be done.

I was the only one to pass the test with 100%, first-ever. I didn’t like support, but I did it. I moved on from that another computer job, which was in the direction I was on before 9/11.

I then tried my hand at computer coding. Nope, that wasn’t my cup of tea. Don’t get me wrong, I can take code and change it. I just hate writing it from scratch.

Path

My path changed from doing something I liked to do, to working on computers. Times change and so does technology. Your path might take you somewhere you didn’t want to go. But it is up to you.