At the time, I was enrolled in computer programming courses in school. I took two years of BASIC and two years of independent study in Pascal. I was working on Apple IIe and Apple IIgs computers. I even went to programming competitions.
We put together my first computer. It had a 13" monitor, a 5 1/4" floppy disk, and 256 MB RAM. It ran DOS and a couple of years later I upgraded the RAM to 1 MB and installed Windows 3.0.
I was able to do my papers and print them out on my dot matrix printer. I also started playing games like Flight Simulator and various card games.
I decided to pursue music in college. It was my first love and, even though I liked computers, I knew I would not be able to handle the math classes so I decided not to pursue and education in computers.
While in college I started composing music. I went out and purchased my first Mac. I was able to hook up my keyboard and compose using Finale software. That was something I was not able to do with my Windows machine. After graduation I was experiencing problems with my computer. I didn't make much money so I could not afford to have someone look at it. So, I decided to fix it myself. That was when I first realized I might want to re-think my career path.
I did computers on the side for the school district I worked for and soon I was the technology coordinator and band/choir director in a K-12 school. I learned about purchasing, budgeting, researching technology, repair, and training. I was also able to us this technology in my classroom. I had students composing music, used the computer to create quizzes, and was able to demonstrate music techniques with video and audio that I was not able to do with a stereo. But, I was overloaded and had to decide what to do next.
I got married in 1998 and moved to Milwaukee the next year. After a year of working in the instrument sales business I took a shot in the dark and applied for a computer job. I got the job and have been here ever since.
Computers changed my life completely. It gave me a new career path and it has been very rewarding. At times I do miss teaching but computers and technology is where I hope to stay.
Mike you have lots of history with computers. This course must be a piece of cake for you so far. I like your story and found it ironic because I went to college for Computer Programming and I did 2 years of C++ programming but found it too boring to sit at the computer all day and try to find the errors in my programs so I decided to pursue Math because it was what I was doing the best at. We took opposite paths! Good luck on the rest of your career path!
ReplyDeleteI find it interesting that we started on the same systems, but at different points in our lives. My first computer use experience was with an Apple IIe as well. I also took programming courses, ending with an AS in Computer Programming. I learned COBOL and RPG, which I found out too late are useless for me in Madison. Did you choose to learn BASIC and Pascal or where they the only courses offered in programming at that particular school?
ReplyDeleteHi Mike,
ReplyDeleteYou sure did come in with the computer evolution! On one hand, I think you're lucky because you know the progression of tech and the programming and guts of a machine and all that. On the other hand, I'm a relative new-comer, and WYSIWYG is good for me! I'm not innately curious of the why it works, just that it does! I've been challenged to learn a little more than that of course, because it doens't always work on the front end, but I'm learning something new about it every day. That's what counts!
Mary
Music and computers, a match made in heaven. Almost the perfect combination.
ReplyDelete