Graduate school or Software Engineering job?
For some reason I don’t always find time to tell my students the entire story why I become a professor. Here I am.
I didn’t grow up dreaming to be one. I thought about being a lawyer (when I was 10); then I thought about being a therapist/psychologist (when I was 15)…but then, after my first semester of computing classes in high school, it started giving the idea, perhaps, I could/should be “a computing teacher”. Part of it was practical reason, I knew if I wasn’t successfully getting the education credits as a trained teacher, I can work in industry, if I continued pursuing the computing related field, which I did. During my freshman and sophomore years, it became more evident that I would most likely find a software-engineering job after my college degree (There’s huge demand, and I have the skills and degree). It also just seemed like the very next thing to do, because all my peers were doing so (preparing for graduate school or software-engineering job). I didn’t spend any extra minutes to ponder, what do I really want? (Am I going to like software engineering at all? What exactly is a career and life style?) Although, at the back of my mind, I had always questioned myself, why do everyone want to go to graduate school? why not go to work and become financial independent? I had the questions about why should I do everyone is doing? I wanted something different! I wanted to figure it out.
I stumped upon a flyer on campus “International Exchange Program”. That absolutely intrigued me!!! I didn’t have to come up with an answer of going to graduate school or finding a software engineering job. I can “WORK” out a solution that I, myself, fully invested, on exploring potential options and opportunities. At the moment, I was thinking, “it is not that I never thought of studying abroad, it is very expensive to do so, can I (my family) afford it?” the exchange program just seemed like an opportunity to me. It may be my once a life time studying abroad chance, by paying local tuition and receiving foreign education. I may have no other chances to study abroad. This is it!!! So, I took TOEFL (twice, to improve the scores); I watched a lot of Friends…and I applied for the exchange program. I got 3 admissions (Boston U, U of Australia, and ESSCA at Budapest).
I have heard of only the first 2, never heard of ESSCA at all! And that’s where I went! ESSCA stands for École supérieure des sciences commerciales d’Angers. It is a French business school offers English programs in multiple campuses. I chose to go there not really because for the sake of the adventure. It fits my reality agenda to graduate on time. Plus, I consulted one of my professors that I have tremendous respect for, I asked, which one should I choose? He said, just for a semester, of course, ESSCA! Go to Europe, have fun and enjoy! Off I go~
After that half year (a semester of exchange program in Budapest, Hungary and a month of backpacking in Europe), it completely changed my life.
To be continued…