College Expierence
(April 18, 2024)
As a college student, these last four years of my life have been a seemingly endless account of learning experiences, both positive and negative. I have endured many situations that have shaped the aspirations that I have for myself and how I want my life to look after graduation. In this narrative essay, I want to show the reasoning behind why I chose my career path through stories and personal experiences. Emily Esfahani Smith said, “ By taking the disparate pieces of our lives and placing them together into a narrative, we create a unified whole that allows us to understand our lives as coherent…” (Smith, 2022). I believe that in order to fully understand someone’s choices, it is essential to understand their experiences.
Freshman Year
Before starting college, I was enlisted in the military, where I spent a year and a half in training to receive my practical nursing license. Prior to enlisting, I was set on going to college to study pre-med with hopes of eventually becoming a Physician Assistant. After obtaining my nursing license and gaining experience in the healthcare field, my dream quickly evaporated. I realized how mentally exhausting it can be to care for people, considering that I am extremely empathetic. So initially, when I enrolled at Old Dominion University (ODU), I declared pre-nursing, but I knew that I needed to find a new major that I would enjoy pursuing. I began obsessively researching different disciplines to see what would interest me. During my research, I took note of coding because I realized that I unintentionally used to code back in middle and high school when I would design my blog page for Tumblr. I used to customize the HTML to make my blog page look more interesting, and back then, I was not even aware that I was coding. Before declaring a new major, I decided to enroll in a course called Women and Technology. This was one of the first courses at Old Dominion that I wholeheartedly enjoyed. I learned about many different avenues and branches, not only in computer science but across all of STEM. I continued to do more and more research, and eventually, I made my decision and chose to change my major to computer science.
Once I changed my major and began taking applications and lab courses, I realized how challenging coding can be. Initially, I felt so lost that I started to doubt if I was making the right decision. However, after climbing the steep learning curve, I began to appreciate the intricacies of coding. I was fascinated by the endless possibilities that the field of computer science offered. As I took more classes related to computer science, I started to recognize the broadness of my major. While I am genuinely interested in many things, I personally find more value in specializing. That’s when I began to figure out what I like and what I see myself excelling in. Feeling confident in my knowledge of the basics of coding and my ability to learn other languages with the help of the internet, I decided to change my major again to cybersecurity.
Academic Experiences
In my second year of college, I took a course called Women and Technology, as mentioned earlier in this paper. I believe that this class is one of the main reasons I ultimately ended up in cybersecurity. From this class, I knew that being a woman in this field would be challenging, but with the stories and lessons from that class, I knew that I would not endure anything that I would not be able to overcome. One particular story that I noted was an essay that I wrote on the bias that was evident in artificial intelligence (AI). While researching this topic, I realized that AI uses algorithms, and these algorithms are written by developers. Many of these developers are men, and very few of them are women, and even fewer of them are black women. This sparked a fire in me that yearned for change. While developers can claim that a product is being made for use by multiple groups, how can one be sure that this is true when the makeup of the creators lack of diversity and perspective? I realized that I could be one of those people who brings technical skills while also bringing a different perspective.
Another course that significantly influenced my career aspirations was Cyber Law. In this course, I rediscovered my interest in civics and gained a deeper understanding of its application in the cyber realm. Exploring the legal aspects of cybersecurity highlighted the importance of ethical and regulatory considerations within the field. This exposure solidified my desire to specialize in cybersecurity, recognizing its dynamic and multifaceted nature.
Unfortunately, I did not secure any internships during my college years, so the majority of my knowledge was acquired through hands-on experiences and projects within my coursework. Courses like Problem Solving I and II were instrumental in laying the foundation of my coding skills, particularly in languages like C++. Additionally, my experience in the Unix course equipped me with practical skills in utilizing PowerShell and various command-line tools. Moreover, I delved into cybersecurity tools such as John the Ripper, Wireshark, and Metasploit, gaining valuable insight into offensive security practices. While I was unable to participate in formal internship programs, these hands-on experiences provided me with a solid technical foundation and a glimpse into the realm of red team activities.
Work experience
While in college, the main job I had was working as a nurse in home health for pediatric patients. While I did not hate it, I did not love it. I experienced a lot of anxiety due to the care and safety of the kids. I enjoyed the kids I would care for, but sometimes it could be overwhelming for me. I used my bittersweet feelings towards my job as confirmation of changing my major. I knew that I was making the right decision by pursuing technology over nursing.
Another job that I had while in college was working as a team member for Innovative Monarchs. Innovative Monachs is a collaborative project where a group of students are looking to find and solve problems for Old Dominion Univeristy. While working for Innovative Monarchs, my team and I were tasked with conducting research on students using a design thinking approach to find a solution to help make college life easier for students at Old Dominion University. My group decided to use technology to address this problem. We took the already launched ODU mobile app and proposed to make the app more user-friendly while also creating a marketing plan to increase student awareness of its existence. The group that I was a part of ended up being chosen to proceed, but the process was cut short due to funding.
Conclusion
During my college experience, I was able to learn a great deal about myself and what I wanted to pursue. The journey has been transformative, filled with many unexpected events along the way. Initially, my career goals were in the medical field, but eventually, I found myself drawn towards the dynamic field of cybersecurity. Choosing to pursue cybersecurity has offered me endless possibilities for exploration and discovery, as cybersecurity is forever evolving. I am excited to continue my journey in cybersecurity, armed with the knowledge and experiences gained during my time at college.
Works Cited
Smith, E. E. (2022, October 16). The two kinds of stories we tell about ourselves. ideas.ted.com. https://ideas.ted.com/the-two-kinds-of-stories-we-tell-about-ourselves/