About halfway through my junior year, I developed what I call an interest (others might call it an obsession) in computers. Admittedly, the spark that began this interest was video games. I wanted to mod my games and play at higher resolutions with higher framerates than on a console. However, unlike most people likely would, I was not happy with driving down to Best Buy and picking up the HP computer with the biggest number next to it. I did my research. I spent weeks researching computer hardware until I was familiar enough with their functions to make educated decisions.
Unfortunately, while all that was required for the research was a couple weeks of time and a stable internet connection, saving the money to actually purchase my carefully chosen parts was a much more daunting task. It was my desire to build this computer that was my final motivation in getting a job at a local restaurant, a job that I continue to hold even after over a year of having the computer finished. After several months working for minimum wage on the weekends, I finally had enough money to buy all the components and begin constructing my computer.
Aside from the tedious task of scouring the internet in search of the best price on each individual part, the process of building a computer is no more complicated than a very expensive puzzle (with a few more wires of course).
While my initial interest in computers was due to games, it has grown into much more of that. The sense of pride I gained through the process of building a computer through my own means and knowledge helped to fuel my interest and ultimately helped me to decide that my career should pertain to computers. While most of my experience up to that point had been with hardware, I soon decided to give programming a chance. I enrolled in Perry Central’s new Computer Science course and began an internship with the IT department at Waupaca Foundry in Tell City. A short time later, I am accepted into the University of Southern Indiana and will be majoring in computer science to become a computer programmer.
