April 2024 Writing Challenge | Day 3
Did You Stick with the Profession That Your Childhood Self First Thought Of?
What would my high school English teacher think of me now?
When I was very young, I remember boys at school saying they wanted to be train drivers. It seemed like a stock answer, almost a macho thing.
My school reports described me as quiet and shy, and if they’d got an answer out of me, I might have said electrician. I liked anything to do with electricity, and I didn’t know the names of jobs connected with electronics or computers.
As I approached my teenage years, I started building electronic circuits and learning computer programming. From then on, it was assumed by everyone — including me — that I would work in that field.
And that’s what I did for 26 years!
My mum said I was ‘messing with wires’, even when I was an adult! And who could blame her? Until I moved out, my bedroom was full of messy cables and wires!
For 20 years, I developed hardware and software for embedded systems for industrial printers and label applicators. (Embedded systems are the ‘invisible computers’ that live inside products.)
