***Editor’s Note: The “I Became An Engineer” blog runs every friday. To share your story email sarah.goncalves@advantagemedia.com***
This week’s story is brought to us by reader Dennis Ames.
I was always going to be a computer programmer.
When I was in the seventh grade in 1978, a “computer” was a teletype that required you use a phone to contact a remote computer. It connected the same handset you used when you talked on it.
In high school, we had a data general mainframe, and by my sophmore year, I had taken all of the credited computer classes (just as the new Apple computers were coming in).
So, in order to meet my science requirements, I walked into Mr. Bates’ electronics class.
There, I learned about tubes and transistors, and I found out I had a flair for it and the engineering process. Mr. Bates was helpful in guiding me in what I needed to do, and I later went to Wentworth Institute to become an Electrical Engineer.
Those vacuum tube classes later came in handy when I started to work at Alcatel Vacuum after college. (Had my resume been done on time, I would have worked for a power company like my best friend did.)
Instead, I eventually wound up in the semiconductor industry working on lithography tools. I am still here (most people in the industry never get out), and I am still engaged and challenged all these years later.
Read other stories, here:
- A Note From The Editor: An Engineer’s Story
- I Became An Engineer: Because Of A Lunch Box
- I Became An Engineer: Because of Christmas Lights
- I Became An Engineer: Because Of The Cool Jackets
- I Became An Engineer: Because My Dad Said Not To
- I Became An Engineer: Despite Being Bad At Math
- I Became An Engineer: Because of Uncle Chet
- I Became An Engineer: Because I Can’t Stop Asking ‘Why?’
- I Became An Engineer: Because of Star Trek (Specifically Montgomery Scott)
- I Became An Engineer: Because I Was A Really Lucky Nerd
- I Became An Engineer: But ‘Nobody Knows’ Why
- I Became An Engineer: Because of Nuclear Submarines
- I Became An Engineer: Because of a Sewing Machine
- I Became An Engineer: Because No One Was Hiring Shoe Salesmen
- I Became An Engineer: Because of Mr. Kenny, the TV/Radio Repair Man
- I Became An Engineer: Because of a Book (And My Mom)
- I Became An Engineer: Because of a Cattle Ranch
- I Became An Engineer: Because of a Wise Father and the Possibility of Death
- I Became An Engineer: Because of An Evil Mastermind
- I Became An Engineer: To Get Off the Tractor
- I Became An Engineer: Because of My Rodeo Coach
- I Became An Engineer: Because the Air Force Equipment Kept Breaking
- I Became an Engineer: Because My Mom Let Me Take Apart the Old Vacuum
- I Became An Engineer: Because I Liked Tearing My Toys Apart
- I Became An Engineer: Because of the Mysterious Glowing Tubes
- I Became An Engineer: Because of My Father, Star Trek, and Music
- I Became An Engineer: Because I Was Tired of Sweating
- I Became An Engineer: But Almost the Wrong Kind
- I Became an Engineer: Because of a Car
- I Became An Engineer: Because of a Trip to Disney World