Computer Science. Is it your dream profession, too?

My story about choosing my future profession

Well... finding your future career is not always simple. Or at least this is what I can hear from experienced people. And in some ways, I have also experienced it.

During my secondary education I was constantly changing my future plans. I think it is quite normal.

Let's say I was not exactly an ordinary pupil. I liked almost all the subjects, in fact I really loved Foreign Languages (I am learning English, German and French and my mother tongue is Hungarian), Mathematics, and other Sciences like Chemistry or Physics. To be frank I not only loved them but I had some shorter or longer times when I wanted to become a real professional. First I was passionate about Chemistry, so I wanted to become a Chemist. Then I had some reasons to forget about this idea. Then I wanted to become a Physicist, but I had some other reasons to forget about it, too. Then I was just like saying, go and choose pure Maths. It was a very great idea, and it was quite a long period, but then, I had to forget about it too. (I will soon explain why)

So I was just thinking about life and career, feeling quite confused. I did not know if I should keep one of my ideas, or I should look for another one.

Then something like a "miracle" happened. I know that this sound a bit crazy, but this is how I feel about it. I did not mention, but throughout my life I was also good at dealing with computers, but I have never ever thought that this could also be my future career. It was something not so relevant to me. I just liked it, and I had it all my life, but that's all. The miracle I mentioned about was one of the best things that ever happened to me. I met someone who was (and is :) very passionate about computers, both software and hardware and he thought me how to program a computer. It was fascinating watching a machine doing what you "told" it to do. Of course sometimes I made mistakes, even very serious ones, but this is what debugging is for! :) In fact you just have to find the common language and follow those simple rules and your computer will be "happy" to do execute your programs! I read it somewhere or someone told this to me: "The computer is the dumbest thing. It does exactly what you tell it to. " I really enjoy this whole thing so I am proudly saying now I'm a Computer Science BSc student, I will start next week.

You may be thinking this is strange. What is so great about it? And why did I left those other subjects alone if I had the interest and talent? Let me explain and compare them.

First, Chemistry. I loved every moment of the Chemistry lessons. fortunately I had a very talented teacher so it was easy to love the subject itself, too. I loved experiments we made, I liked both the old stories of alchemists and the latest discoveries in Modern Chemistry. So it was a nice idea to become a Chemist. But I had to realise that I was only a 15 year old pupil in a small town and our school did not have enough money to buy the best equipments and the amount of knowledge we could get in the school was almost nothing compared to the academic and professional knowledge. You cannot make experiments at home whenever you want and it is not easy to make something new at that level of proficiency. So I had to give up with it, and I was very sad. Fortunately I had some hopes with Physics.

You might understand that Physics was a better option from this point of view. You do not need a teacher and permissions to own magnets, or iron balls. You can make experiments any time with springs or gravity. It was a lot more fun so I got very excited about it! But then I had to realize it again that I cannot just simply go to CERN and make some experiments with Higgs-boson or quarks, but I really wanted to. I was very interested in this topic. But first I have to go through the academic part and maybe I will be chosen to work there, but it might take 10 years, and the chances very small. So again, I had to give up with it, too and again I was heartbroken.

Then I found out that I still have Maths in my pocket, I always liked it, and I need only a pen and some paper, so I was very happy! Finally I can make progress any time I want and anywhere I want. I bought hundreds of books in a one year time, because I was eager to get another book full of new equations to solve. I needed no one to allow me to use my books I felt the happiness finally. I was in love with pure Mathematics, you can imagine. (Now you might know what comes...) But then I had to realize again that I am not able to win a Math competition, my knowledge was still not enough for higher maths, I cannot figure out a beautiful equation to describe the universe, I was not a super talented Maths genius who was able to find the square root of 2 at the age of 2. I could not compare myself to those guys. I was simply not enough. So I was truly broken. I did not know what will happen to me. All my dreams were broken.

After this long story now you can understand my CS miracle. Because you know what I only need is a computer and the Internet. I can create new things even at a young age, even without a diploma. Nobody will care about your age or gender if you are really good at it. I do not need a real teacher I only need friends who can help me if I really got stuck on a problem. I do not need to buy heavy books I can learn anything from the Internet, all those tutorials can be found online. Starting with the "Hello world" and simple console applications, continuing with silly games, mobile or web applications and finishing with anything you can imagine. You can use your imagination and creativity to invent anything you want. This is a whole new world. This is freedom. I just simply love it.

Isn't it fascinating? Do you understand what I want to say? You need almost nothing. You can become a professional at a young age. You can get a job, you can work for a company and they will be happy to hire you if you are really passionate.

This is what happened to me. I got a job offer from a real software company. And I haven't even started university. I do not have any real work experience. I'm only 19, how do I even have any?

I would just change the title: Why wouldn't everyone want to become a Software Engineer? I just simply do not understand.... :)

Thanks for reading it through.

// I do not want to hurt any Chemistry, Physics and Maths professionals. I know that you love what you do, I loved it, too, and I know that you are very good at it, it was only my point of view, my possibilities and my choice. I was only looking for people thinking about life the same way as I do. :)

2015.09.03.