Personal Narrative: College Essay
My decision to follow a career with computers can be attributed to a single thought that I had about a year and a half ago: “I want to fight a dragon as Batman.” This isn’t as crazy as one would think. I was, at the time, hooked on the video game that everyone was playing, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. Skyrim is a free-roaming game that lets people go on adventures, quest, and, of course, fight dragons. What is so unique about Skyrim is that the online community has created an extremely large number of modifications, or mods, to the game’s programming. These mods range from turning a character into Spiderman to giving all the monsters top-hats and monocles.
Unfortunately for me, such a Batman mod hadn’t been created. Frowning as I looked at my computer screen, I thought, “Why has nobody created a mod for such a simple thing?” Determined to make my newfound dream a reality, I researched how I could accomplish the task of creating a mod. Sadly, the material was far beyond my understanding, and it would take a long time to learn the necessary programming skills required to achieve my goal. However, I didn’t give up on my goal. I decided then and there to acquire the skills and knowledge it involves to create a mod.
Fast forward to the present and I am enrolled in a computer science class and taking a two year computer networking course at the local community college that partners with my school system. Before I became interested in computers, I had no clear-cut plan on what to do for the future. I had no idea what kind of career I wanted to pursue, but since I started learning networking and programming, I have a firm goal in mind. The simple whim I had when I started playing the game has developed into a passion that will lead me to a career doing the things I love. It will still take time to learn everything that I need to create a mod, but I can wait. It will all be worth it if, in a year or so, I can go toe-to-toe with a dragon as the Dark Knight, and fulfill the dreams of other nerdy kids who face the same problem. After I complete that goal, I will have a set of skills that could be used for software research and development, which are fields that are always hiring new people. So even though I am learning these skills for fun reasons, I am greatly benefiting my chances to have a good job in the future doing the things that I love.
Unfortunately for me, such a Batman mod hadn’t been created. Frowning as I looked at my computer screen, I thought, “Why has nobody created a mod for such a simple thing?” Determined to make my newfound dream a reality, I researched how I could accomplish the task of creating a mod. Sadly, the material was far beyond my understanding, and it would take a long time to learn the necessary programming skills required to achieve my goal. However, I didn’t give up on my goal. I decided then and there to acquire the skills and knowledge it involves to create a mod.
Fast forward to the present and I am enrolled in a computer science class and taking a two year computer networking course at the local community college that partners with my school system. Before I became interested in computers, I had no clear-cut plan on what to do for the future. I had no idea what kind of career I wanted to pursue, but since I started learning networking and programming, I have a firm goal in mind. The simple whim I had when I started playing the game has developed into a passion that will lead me to a career doing the things I love. It will still take time to learn everything that I need to create a mod, but I can wait. It will all be worth it if, in a year or so, I can go toe-to-toe with a dragon as the Dark Knight, and fulfill the dreams of other nerdy kids who face the same problem. After I complete that goal, I will have a set of skills that could be used for software research and development, which are fields that are always hiring new people. So even though I am learning these skills for fun reasons, I am greatly benefiting my chances to have a good job in the future doing the things that I love.