"Hey, distantaidenn, I wanna talk to you after class." These were the words of my then high school math teacher. I wasn't worried, I was a good student. Little did I know, this would shape my career for the next 20 years. When after class came, my teacher handed me a brand spanking new TI-83. "We're gonna be using these in class from now on. Take this home for the weekend, learn how to use it, and teach the rest of the class." I held in my excitement, and took the device, along with its 1-inch thick manual.
I pored over the manual. Before I knew it, I had mathematical functions dancing across the screen. All of our current math equations set up to accept variables and spit out answers. I didn't know it at the time, but I was "programming." I began to dabble in TI-Basic -- I had no idea what it was, but apparently, it was the language this giant calculator used, and I'd have to learn that language to make this machine do my bidding. So I learned it. The next year in school, I signed up for an elective Programming class, and lo and behold, it was in Basic -- I thought to myself, this looks familiar, I know this! I finally made the connection that I had been "programming" the whole time. From then I was hooked.
Fast forward to university, I gained a degree that was as far from programming as possible, but I always had my scripts. I was the guy that could talk to computers. I was at home on the command line. And I knew enough html and JS to make a shitty web page, if necessary.
And here I am now, still engineering and managing, and making (I'd like to think) not so shitty products for a living.
Great story--thanks for sharing! It's interesting how the unexpected, serendipitous moments can have such downstream effects on our lives!
Just out of curiosity: what did you end up studying in university? And how come you didn't study computer science / programming despite acquiring an interest for it earlier in your life?
I decided to delve into the "pure" sciences of mathematics and physics. I figured I'd end up in the ivory towers of academia. And of course, like many other undergrads, I ended up major hopping a bit. I never considered programming as a career until it happened.
Ah, interesting! I know quite a few people who took a similar path--started off in the academic math/physics/statistics route but winded up doing programming as a career. Thanks again for sharing the story. "Mathematical functions dancing across the screen" is a phrase that will stick around with me for a bit.
"Hey, distantaidenn, I wanna talk to you after class." These were the words of my then high school math teacher. I wasn't worried, I was a good student. Little did I know, this would shape my career for the next 20 years. When after class came, my teacher handed me a brand spanking new TI-83. "We're gonna be using these in class from now on. Take this home for the weekend, learn how to use it, and teach the rest of the class." I held in my excitement, and took the device, along with its 1-inch thick manual.
I pored over the manual. Before I knew it, I had mathematical functions dancing across the screen. All of our current math equations set up to accept variables and spit out answers. I didn't know it at the time, but I was "programming." I began to dabble in TI-Basic -- I had no idea what it was, but apparently, it was the language this giant calculator used, and I'd have to learn that language to make this machine do my bidding. So I learned it. The next year in school, I signed up for an elective Programming class, and lo and behold, it was in Basic -- I thought to myself, this looks familiar, I know this! I finally made the connection that I had been "programming" the whole time. From then I was hooked.
Fast forward to university, I gained a degree that was as far from programming as possible, but I always had my scripts. I was the guy that could talk to computers. I was at home on the command line. And I knew enough html and JS to make a shitty web page, if necessary.
And here I am now, still engineering and managing, and making (I'd like to think) not so shitty products for a living.