Trial and Error

Choosing and deciding on a major to study has been a timely process for me. This week, I switched it for the third time, finishing another round of trial and error. The process has taught me a lot about myself. We are often faced with multiple roads and decisions in life. Sometimes the decision is crucial because there is one road we should take. Other times we are faced with many good options and it is up to us to decide. I've learned that often we must start down a path and then realize it's the wrong path, in order to confirm that the other path is the right path to take. When this happens we can quickly change gears and start on the correct journey.

Walking in faith is like walking in the fog. We can see enough in the distance to take a few steps comfortably. I've had times in my life where I've feared taking wrong steps. Sometimes this fear caused me to take no steps at all. I think it is healthy to realize that trial and error is not bad.  From infancy, we aren't expected to be perfect or know everything. Like a baby learning to walk, we need to learn to make right and good decisions. Sometimes that means we'll stumble.

In high school, I had an experience that made me want to be an engineer. It was always at the back of my mind but I never really thought of it because I knew I wouldn't be going to school for a few years. While on my mission, I had a companion who also wanted to be an engineer. We both signed up for computer engineering classes the fall semester after our return. After my freshman year, I realized that I was not interested in building computers but coding computers. I looked into Computer Science but feared that it would corner me into coding for the rest of my life. My cousin introduced me to Information Systems so I started taking business classes my sophomore year. I liked the business classes but I wasn't ecstatic about them. I took my first IS class and began to have doubts. I convinced myself that it was a good major and choice and so I stuck with it. At the beginning of the winter semester, I had the opportunity to interview with Adobe and met the director of architecture for TechOps. I was intrigued by his knowledge of software and listened to him praise a computer science degree. It planted a seed in my mind and for the next few weeks, I couldn't stop thinking about switching my major.

I met with an advisor in the Computer Science department and felt peace about the decision. I changed my major the following day and plan on pursuing a computer science degree with a minor in business.