Finding your tree in the forest of careers

If there's anything that my time as a student at the University of Florida has taught me, it's that your career of choice is almost never on the first path you choose on the road to wisdom. For me, I started on the path towards computer science, only to find that path might be too scientific for my approach. I then took the fork in the road that presented itself in the form of my love for television, which lead to the completion of my Bachelor's degree in Telecommunication Production. While that deviation from the path certainly provided me with some lovely visual stimuli and stories, it left me alone in the middle of the forest. After spinning some time mentally tracing my steps, I realized why I had failed in finding my career...I never truly thought about what I wanted in one!

I imagine that last comment perhaps borders on stupidity...but I also imagine I'm not alone in that general thought process. Everyone is always encouraging you to look at this, it'd be perfect for you! And usually on some basic level, they're right. But for me, I never found that niche, until a principal of an elementary school, and a family friend, helped point me down the right path. She'd observed me on the rare occasion I'd drop by the school to visit my mom (who also worked there), and offered to help with various technical difficulties. She thanked me for my help, for their school didn't have a technologist available, and they relied on the district to get help. She casually mentioned I should think about dropping off my resume to the district office when I was done with my undergraduate degree, because they could use a person like me to help out schools. Ironically, even though my part-time job at UF enlisted me doing some of the same things I helped with at her school, I hadn't considered it a career choice...nor did I know there was a career option for it.

Thanks to the principal, I sought out what little information I knew to look for at UF, and ultimately found the Educational Technology Masters Program. And for once, I don't find myself lost in the forest of careers. In fact, I've actually started to plant a tree of my own.