Maya Nibbe
4-29-2022
Informational Interview Essay
Context: At the start of the semester, I took a test/survey that measured my attributes as well as my interests, then combined the two to find careers that fit me best. Turns out (to my genuine shock), my top three best-fit careers according to this $20 survey thingy my career counselor had me do were all math/science based. I guess it makes sense, as I do like to build things and am very logic-oriented over socially/feeling-oriented, but I am still genuinely surprised that I am apparently perfectly fit to be an engineer.
Using this information, I chose the most well-paying career (Computer Programmer) as something to base my informational interview on. And, long story short, my career counselor used this information to introduce me to professor Doug Lundin of ACC Castle Rock, who has worked with computers since the late 1970s, doing everything from Cybersecurity to website developing.
So, I met Professor Lundin over zoom. In this paper, I said the call only lasted a half hour, but in reality, it lasted for an hour because Professor Lundin, halfway through, noticed my turkey feather fan mounted on the wall behind me, and wanted to talk about hunting/fishing with me. Which, frankly, was awesome but irrelevant to my paper. Still, he did answer my questions/concerns, and I feel a little better about going into a math/science/logic heavy career (though, I'm still extremely under-confident and sadly believe I'm far too stupid to do anything except rot in my mom's basement till I die).
But... I digress.
Oh, and I think I'll drive to Castle Rock for his classes. Just gotta get over my fear of highways.
On April 29th, I had the privilege to sit down with Professor Doug Lundin of ACC for a half hour on Zoom, to discuss what it’s like to pursue a career in Computer Science. Professor Lundin has been in Computer Science since the late 1970s, and has done everything from building Computer Hardware, to Cyber Security, to Software Development (which turns out to be his favorite).
Professor Lundin has been interested in Computers since he was in high school, and naturally pursued a Computer Science degree in college. Upon getting his master’s degree in both Computer Systems Engineering and Computational Math, he was thrust into a career with computers, which he says he’s really enjoyed.
According to Lundin, Computer Science is a challenging though flexible and satisfying career. There is always something new to learn and do, as computer systems are constantly changing and evolving, becoming increasingly complex year-to-year. But, I was assured not to be too intimidated by this prospect, as it’s not that hard to learn Computer Science. It’s tedious, but quite easy to learn the various languages of Computers and how to make computers do what you want them to do.
Professor Lundin teaches both introductory and experienced-only Computer Science courses at ACC Castle Rock. If I were to pursue this career path, I could commute to his classes and begin by learning the very basics of Computer Programming via learning the language of Python; arguably the easiest and most modern computer to learn. From there, if I so choose, I could graduate to harder and harder classes, till I get my Associate’s degree in Computer Software Engineering.
There are a lot of job opportunities for Computer Software Engineers who don’t even have an official degree in Computer Science, via websites such as Upwork.com and Freelancer.com. These odd jobs, while small, are rewarding and can pay a substantial salary. But, getting any sort of degree in Computer Science would make it easier for me to land a more solid and higher-paying job with a company.
However, Professor Lundin did warn me that the interview process is often difficult for fresh-out-of-college Computer Engineers, as students aren’t always familiar with the jargon or the computer languages many companies use that aren’t always taught in the classroom. So, Professor Lundin encouraged me to really let my curiosity take over and learn as much as I possibly can, both in the classroom and at home. The more I know, the easier the interview process would be (thankfully, most Computer Science employers aren’t too worried about how someone may come off, socially speaking. In fact, many CS employers interview potential employees by having them work for a week to show off their skills).
Getting into Cybersecurity would be even harder, as I’d have to get a security clearance and may not be able to simply work from home (for security reasons). Professor Lundin explained that Cybersecurity Engineers get paid a hefty salary, but don’t exactly have the freedom or flexibility of a Software Developer (who, by the way, often get paid $100,000 a year right out the gate). So, if I’m looking for a more flexible, creative, and less stressful job in the Computer Science world, software is where it’s at. I may still have to have a “home base”, as some Computer Software Companies (if I don’t decide to be my own boss) may occasionally ask me to come to the office to work on larger projects with others. But, I could very easily spend the vast majority of my career working from anywhere in the world with an Internet connection.
With all of that said, I am even more interested in pursuing a career in Computer Software Development (which branches off in a million different ways on its own, from Virtual Reality, to Artificial Intelligence, to Tesla, to Oracle). I don’t yet know where I would want to go with Software Development, but if I do pursue a degree in this field, I’m sure I’ll find a few branches that suit me well.
To conclude, I am very grateful for the opportunity I had to talk one-on-one with Professor Lundin, and look forward to taking some of his classes in the future.
