I have no idea what I'm doing
16 Jan 2018When I graduated from high school I thought I had it all figured out. I was going to go to University of Hawaii at Hilo, play soccer, and graduate with Bachelor's of Science in Marine science. Unfortunately the only thing I really ended up doing was going to UH Hilo. During the semester I had lost my focus, and the college experience really took hold of my motivations. The main thing I wanted to do was surround myself with friends and just enjoy every day. I lost sight of what I was going to college for, which was to get a degree. This was attributed to the fact that classes such as organic chemistry, calculus, and physics made me feel as if going into Marine science was pointless. I had an idea that I wanted to somehow go into conservation, but I never really gave myself the opportunity to reflect on my major choice. So after a while of spinning my wheels. I came back home to O'ahu, allowing myself to not only pay off some student debt, but realign my goals and priorities.
I ended up at a small coffee, where I would eventually go from overnight barista to a floor manager. Working overnight actually allowed for lots of self reflection, especially at the gym. A nocturnal lifestyle allowed me to go to the gym almost every day, and being a manager also allowed me to discover a new interest of mine. Solving problems. Being in the food and beverage industry presents its own set of unique problems. Whether it's customers who aren't happy because the Wi-Fi is slow, or to workers who insist on never coming to work on time. There was always something that needed to be fixed. Most of the problems just involved time and effort, and being a manager involved an immense amount of each. And it was with this realization that I concluded that I didn't want to solve food and beverage issues my entire life. I would eventually leave the restaurant and start working at Best Buy. It was here that I realized how much I "adored" technology. I say adored, because technology is exciting, it's awe-inspiring, it's even a little scary at times. At Best Buy it was my job to learn about any item that was related to the "Internet of things"(IOT). I used my work ethic and customer service skills I learned from being a manager. I also learned tha I would get annoyed, anytime I told a customer "I don't know". That would mean I would have to go and seek the answers to things like "How much does a camera cloud storage subscription cost?", "How many devices can my router use", or my favorite "What is this?"
Just before my departure from Kissaten I had also enrolled into University of Hawaii of Mānoa, but this time instead of going the Marine science route. I would go into computer science. With a renewed vigor for technology, and a work ethic that I had almost lost I decided to go back to school. If I could give as much as I did for the coffee shop, and put all of that into school I knew I would succeed. So far it's been challenging, but I love it. I spend days at a time confused and looking at a computer screen, but once I find a solution to that problem. I can't help but feel like I'm moving in the right direction. For the first time in my academic career I've gotten above a 2.8. I've gotten dean's list for my entire first year, and hope to keep doing it. I'm even finding out that I have an interest in wireless networking. I even would like to eventually figure out all the intricacies of networks, and how packets move from computer to computer. Eventually I would also like to work for a company such as netgear or cisco, maybe even a smaller company that helps improve the livelihood of people by making Wi-Fi more efficient and cover a greater range. Getting into IOT would be awesome too, new apps are coming up every day, and it's always interesting to see what will be the next great idea. Maybe it could be from someone in Hawaiʻi. Who knows? The one thing I do know is. I have no idea what I'm doing, and it's exciting.