First, I'll explain that I have a B.S. in Mathematics and a Chemistry minor. I tried out graduate school for Civil Engineering in California, but things didn't work out. I returned home and took a semester off. Then, I started attending school at UNLV while trying out substitute teaching, dealing with medical problems from a surgery gone wrong, and supporting a loved one through cancer. I was still up in the air when I went back to school to pursue a 2nd bachelor's degree. Initially, I just wanted to make sure my brain still worked properly after the mental breakdown graduate school and health problems inflicted on me.
In any case, I logically thought that maybe pursuing a Civil Engineering bachelor's degree would be easier than pursuing a master's degree. As such, I tried going in that direction, but I had my doubts about that. Thus, I considered possibly going in the construction management direction. So I took classes in both civil engineering and construction management to see if I could distinguish an obvious preference. But then, I found that looking at the course lists for both majors indicated that Civil Engineering was preferred over Construction Management. But I still had my doubts.
I kept going on the Civil Engineering route, but I still wasn't sure about it. So I figured maybe I should pop over at the Career Center and take some tests on personality and interests. I took the tests and what I found was quite shocking. On the list of Least Popular Jobs for INTJ personality (my personality type), there in bold letters read Civil Engineering Technician. That was an "Aha" moment for me. It finally made sense as to why I never felt certain about pursuing civil engineering. It was sitting there in print on a piece of paper.
I found through this personality test that I would do well in natural sciences and some engineering fields (just not civil). I had taken another test about interests and found 5 of the jobs in my top interest list involved computers (Computer Systems Analyst, Software Developer, Technical Support Specialist, Computer Scientist, and Network Administrator). The other jobs listed were more varied (Optometrist, Housekeeping/Maintenance Manager, Librarian, Medical Technologist, and Administrative Assistant). Even so, the list opened my eyes up to possibilities that I had never considered before. I also felt that those jobs would be well-suited to my interests.
Since Computer Science would cover most of those jobs on my top interest list, I'm trying out Computer Science classes this semester. I really hope I like them. So far, I already feel like these classes are better geared toward my strengths like math and logic. As such, I feel pretty good about it. I'm taking 2 computer classes, 2 labs, and two English classes.
Also, I might tutor this semester and that would be awesome. I always thought it would be efficient to get a job on campus. It's always good when the opportunity presents itself to help others and save money on gas.
In some ways, it feels wrong to switch my academic direction after kicking the Civil Engineering horse to death. And at times, I feel like a traitor for skulking off to take computer science courses without informing any sort of advisor of my plans. Yet, this route is what is best for me at the moment. I feel like this semester is an educated experiment. I'm hoping it is an illuminating one and it will make me feel confident enough to talk to an advisor about it. Until I'm sure of my strategy, I'd like to scope out the terrain before plowing forward cannons at the ready.
Given that my current plan is to pursue Computer Science and I've already got Math and Chemistry under my belt, I venture to say that I'm trying to achieve Nerd^3 status. I'm definitely Nerd^2 already. Therefore, it's time to nerd it up another magnitude.
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