My Biography:
I am currently a student at Clark College in Vancouver, WA and am enrolled in the Web site Design and Development (WDD) program. My interests in computers and how the web works, as well as a strong determination to do something better with my life are what brought me here.
In the past I've worked a multitude of manual labor and dead end industrial jobs, all of which were taking me nowhere in a hurry. After 15 years of working hard for next to nothing I came to a point in my life where I needed to make some decisions.
Based on our financial situation and some alarming physical health issues, I realized that it was time to switch gears.
Initially what lead me to the WDD degree and Clark were my interests in obtaining a career in Web Design, as well as a strong determination to provide a decent life for my family.
To give you a brief history about what exactly lead to my choice of Web Design; roughly 5 years ago I realized I could read the source code (the foundation of all web pages) almost as easily as your reading this page. I was surprised at how quickly and easily I could understand it. I saw this as an opportunity to gain new skills that may one day help me to provide more for my family and enjoy myself while doing it.
After reading tons of source code and visiting virtual communities that catered to Web Designers, I began to learn how to make basic web pages. The fact that I could create something that anyone else on the entire planet could see was an intoxicating realization and so I delved even deeper into this new and fascinating world of html.
Eventually I obtained enough knowledge to enable me to start being creative with web site design, adding java scripting and css to enhance the look and feel of it. By this time I had passed the point of just understanding the code, to feeling comfortable enough with it that I could start expressing myself creatively. At this same time I was also part of an online gaming community.
With my newfound web skills I created the community's first privately owned web site with a BB powered forum. This new web site attracted other gamers and our gaming community quickly grew by 10 more people in just the first month.
The results that came of this web site were more than anyone expected. People from all over the world visited it, asking if they could join our gaming community. Some visitors commented on how well made the web site was, which encouraged me to continue to further my Web development knowledge.
Eventually our gaming community grew to 126 members at its peak, members from all over the world such as Canada, Japan, Germany, Australia, Mexico, Alaska, the United Kingdom, and all over the United states from Washington to New England.
I found this new ability to creatively express myself so intoxicating that I became addicted to learning. But this addiction didn't come without a price. My new hobby began innocently enough, but as I delved deeper into learning that learning process began having negative effects. I was beginning to spend too much time learning and not enough with my family.
After some intense talks with friends and family I came to the hard realization that I had been literally choosing this virtual life over my family, over my wife and kids. This was a very sobering realization. It became obvious that I had to make some drastic changes. I needed to leave my cyber-life, where my talents were recognized and appreciated, and start making my real life more important than it was. Sometimes we get so involved in what we are doing that we become blinded as to the effects it has on others around us. This was exactly what had happened to me.
I quickly left the gaming community that had grown to almost depend on me, but my family is and always will be much more important to me than any web site or game will ever be. In that regard it was an easy decision. Still though I had an undeniable fascination with the inner workings of web sites so I jumped at the opportunity to help others creating or trouble shooting theirs. Eventually I created a web site for my church which was a much needed tool in our ministry.
One day a good friend, Scott Lunde, asked me why I didn't do this as a profession. I answered "I.... I don´t know... I guess because I don´t have the schooling that's required". He said "Well... GO TO SCHOOL!". I said "Well... OKAY!". It was his encouragement to pursue my interests in college that eventually lead to my enrollment at Clark and in the WDD degree program.
At the time, I viewed college as something unobtainable because of my financial situation. Scott told me about a place online called "FAFSA", a web site for Federal financial aid. I researched it and soon began to realize that maybe college was within my grasp, that maybe I could actually do it. That, along with prayer, God's help in my life and the help and guidance of a very close personal friend of mine enabled me to come to the decision to get off the beaten path, get back on track and go to College, thanks Scott!
Now I am on my way to a better and brighter future and am doing great in all my classes. My plans from here on out are to transfer to Washington State University (W.S.U.) and pursue my Bachelors in Digital Technology and Communications.
