Technology Journey

Part One

I think maybe I was one of the lucky few who grew up around technology. It has had a huge impact on my life by allowing me to learn new technologies as they came along, getting and keeping jobs and allowing me to communicate and become a better critical thinker. My earliest memories of technology were the first Atari game consoles that my family had. When I got to school, in kindergarten and primary grades I remember using an Apple IIe to play games and take tests. I remember they had those huge black floppies and the tiny monochrome screens. They were used in my classroom mostly for games and tests.

As I got older, I became a big fan of Star Trek, which probably influenced my awareness of technology. My dad worked in a technologically advanced job so I can remember having a computer in house as I was growing up, that was used for games, word processing and spreadsheets. My family was probably one of the first to be online, I remember posting to a bulletin board, and once AOL came out, I remember chatting in chat rooms when they were still fun, before all the spamming. I still have two friends that I met in those days I still talk to online sometimes. It does not seem the Internet was such a wealth of information back then, as it is now with so many content providers.

While I remember taking computer classes in elementary school, including some light programming (Turtle Logo) my most significant technology experience came in junior high when my school had multiple computer labs. They were probably one of the first districts to have computer class and in 6th and 7th grade I actually took both classes on information management and advanced information management. (More great experiences) I think these classes have had the biggest impact on my life because we learned the fundamentals of formatting the Windows system. We even had a computer club and we learned BASIC. I still use the things that I learned in that class everyday. I think the most important things was they really taught us were the fundamentals of the Windows system so that I can learn any Windows based software very quickly because most of the systems and commands are the same. Something else that influenced me was that at my school, the labs were open after school and since I lived within walking distant I hated going home, I used to stay in the lab everyday until it closed. I was always the last to leave. That is when I played the entire series “Where in the World is Carmen San Diego,” took Accelerated Reader test and played “Oregon Trail” on these tiny self contained Macs. At home, I used Windows 3.1 for doing my homework and my favorite Civilization. I do not really remember much research on the Internet until high school, perhaps this why I still prefer books!

All of this knowledge has served me well because when I started to get jobs, and my “real job” working for the government I was able to learn even more and turn around and teach and troubleshoot for others which made me irreplaceable in any job I was in, and able to get my foot in the door. Because of my early experiences, I am able to learn new software quickly and then teach others. I have taught myself Excel, PowerPoint, Access, Publisher and many other industry specific programs. At my last job we had a log we kept everyday that was hand written and I designed a Word template so that the log was kept on a computer. I also created a PowerPoint training program to teach everybody how to use it, an Excel Sheet to track the statistics that were generated from the log, and an Access database to track what keys had been issued to who and when for a division of over 3.000 people. Therefore, all my early experiences have served me well, and I am grateful for those people who have helped me become a technologically literate citizen! Excellent positive attitude!