So it begins...

I used to think I began computer programming as a second (or third) career. I used to think computer programming was something I discovered I could do and enjoy doing after deciding that I didn’t care for a career as a technical writer, and that I was really bad sales man. However, if I think back to my relationship with computer programming or literally getting a computer to do what I wanted it to, I think I can say my earliest experience was with a popular toy (at the time at least) known as a Big Trak. Later my parents furthered my interest with the frustratingly slow Timex Sinclair 1000, and eventually the super cool, original Apple Macintosh 128K. Inspired by games like Zork, I would write simple text based computer programs on that Mac for my friends, or even write my own version of Pong.

When went to college, computer programmer was not really a commonly known or accepted profession. Instead I was going to become a Mechanical Engineer. The problem was that I was not so good with math beyond calculus, and the computer programming that they wanted me to learn (something called Fortran 77) convinced me that I never wanted to have any career that involved that level of understanding of computers. I changed majors, and graduated with a degree in English Literature. It took a while for me to find my way again, but several years later I found my way back to college pursuing a second bachelor degree, this time in computer science.

Flash forward to present day: I work at the University of Washington for The Graduate School. With a team of two other brilliant programmers and an excellent team of tech workers, I work to simplify and automate the process of admitting and graduating graduate students at the University of Washington. However, I had never considered what I did as anything special, as something I could proudly tell my daughters about. I love my job, but I didn’t really talk about it, because I assumed everyone else would think what I did was boring. Then today I read about something called code.org, and my view about what I did for a living changed. Now I need to teach my daughters computer programming.