I get a lot of questions from people about why I left a
prestigious university and a promising career in computer programming, which is
something I’ve been doing since I was young, and went back to school for a
degree in Communications, when I have such a negative opinion on the state of
media and interpersonal communication in the modern age. The truth is, I’ve
excelled at writing since I was young; I essentially taught myself to read from
a young age after I learned which sound represents which letter and it just
clicked in my head extremely easily for some reason, and even later in life I
was able to learn new languages with ease. I essentially skipped children’s
books once I learned to read and hopped right into novels, even though teachers
would try to get me to read the picture books when I was about the age of
kindergarten and first grade. I enjoyed reading stories, whether fictional or
not, but what most intrigued me was the concept of communicating ideas vividly
and perfectly; it still interests me to think that a pattern of sounds creates
a word which denotes a concept, and I like to learn specific words that
describe something rather than a whole explanation for a concept.
This merged with my interest in the ways in which philosophy
is expressed through entertainment, as well as my meticulous, almost “Star
Trek” Vulcan-esque , obsession with pure logic; it’s an unpopular statement,
but the concept of “opinions” honestly infuriates me, not in general, but in
situations where there’s truly only one valid statement. I think that there are
too many opinions in this world in situations that really don’t require them,
sure there are times when opinions are relevant, particularly in situations
that deal with “emotional” logic, such as psychological concepts and concepts
that aren’t strictly defined, or are poorly defined. A quick example for me
would be abortion; the idea of sentient life has never been perfectly defined
as a concept, so I honestly don’t have a clue what to think about it. I have a
personal opinion on the subject, but it’s based on emotion and gut-feeling so I
wouldn’t consider it a necessarily strong or valid argument. There are plenty
of examples of this, but there are many more situations that, in my opinion,
can be completely figured out from pure logic.
This essentially led me to Communications; I had a talent in
writing, but was always seeking a better way to express it. My vocabulary is
excellent, but when it came to expression, being able to describe something
in-depth isn’t where I struggled. Where I struggled was with effectively communicating
the idea to another person in such a way that it was interesting and effective,
not just eloquently described. Simplifying things for a broader audience is
something I also struggled with.
Those are the basics for why I wanted to enter into
Communications; I feel that there are too many problems in the industry in the
modern age, and that people need to fix it. As established, I have a talent and
enjoyment for writing, but it’s not so much the writing part that pleases me,
but the effectively communicating aspect OF writing, and therefore I can adapt
that to numerous forms of media, not just writing. My experience with computers
is extensive, and internet communications is a huge industry these days, with
the advent of social networking and the massive popularity attached to it. I’m
not a materialistic person, and I simply want enough money to live comfortable
and be able to do all the simple things that I want to do, and eventually raise
a family. As the saying goes, if your job is doing what you enjoy, then you’ll
never work a day in your life, and to be in such a position is my ultimate
goal.
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