My Ideal Career Choice

My name is Vishnu Nair and I am currently in 9th grade attending Harmony Science Academy Houston. I am currently taking a PLTW Introduction to Engineering course to see if engineering could be a future career pathway for me. I am very interested in computer engineering along with computer science as I truly have a passion and love for technology. Deciding on what career to pursue is a very hard decision to make as you might not know what you like. Everyone is afraid to spend a lot of hard work and time to get a job that they don’t like. Therefore, your career choice is possibly the most important decision in your adult life. Personally, I have chosen to set my sights on a career in the technology field as I have always loved technology and have been working with it ever since I was a kid. For now, I have decided to study to become a computer scientist as I like coding things and finding ways on how to make things function properly while still using technology. After taking the Clifton strengths assignment I found that my top 5 strengths were: focus, restorative, strategic, achiever, and responsibility. My most dominant trait was focus meaning I can take a direction or make a choice and follow through with it until I am done completely. This can be very useful as a computer scientist as there are many tasks to do in the job and you need to focus completely on one project at a time to get things done efficiently. My other strengths like restorative, strategic, and achiever can come in handy as these strengths make it easier for you to overcome challenges and problems. As a computer scientist, you are faced with many issues, so these 3 strengths are crucial. Lastly, my strength of responsibility will come in handy as you need to own up to your mistakes you might make as a computer scientist. You need to be able to take the blame and improve your skills.

Since my ideal job is a computer and information scientist, I will need to obtain a computer science degree in college which usually takes 2 years as a full-time student or 3 to 4 years as a part-time student. Computer scientists do many tasks like exploring fundamental issues in computing and developing theories and models to address those issues. As a computer scientist, I would also, invent new computing languages, tools, and methods to improve the way in which people work with computers. The median annual wage of a computer and information scientist is $118,370 and the most skilled ones can make around $176,780. For the job outlook of becoming a computer and information scientist, the industry is rapidly growing projected to increase by 16% from 2018 to 2028 which is very high compared to other occupations. As people want better technologies, companies would have to hire more computer scientists which can heavily increase my chances of getting hired in the future. Furthermore, obtaining a degree in computer science is a safe bet as the whole computer industry is growing and since computer scientists are in higher demand than ever before.

I currently reside in the Houston area in which there are 22 annual job openings for a computer and information research scientist alone. This is a very high number and is projected to grow exponentially in the future. The starting salary when you get the job is already $62,381. However, you can make up to $203,198 in the Houston area if you’re very talented. Daily tasks include designing computers and the software that runs them and participating in multidisciplinary projects in areas such as virtual reality, human-computer interaction, or robotics. As a computer scientist, you need to know how to code certain things using Python or Java or other programs. Also, in the Houston area, most of the Computer and Information Research scientists have some form of college background either a bachelors, masters, or doctorate degree. Furthermore, this job has been on the rise in the Houston area with 1,832 jobs popping up from October 2016 to the current-day.

According to the Texas Reality Check assessment, I would need an annual salary of $119,194 to live my lavish lifestyle. My future job would be perfectly fine as the median Computer and Information Research Scientist gets $129,000 in the Houston area meaning I will still have some money left over even after having a rather expensive lifestyle. The lifestyle I intend to live would be rather expensive as I want: a luxury vehicle, house, pets, 2 children, luxurious clothes, leather furniture, have adequate dental and healthcare, go on movies, and still go on vacations with friends and family. This would be a very expensive lifestyle but luckily my job will be able to pay for it. Additionally, with my estimated $10,000 of excess money I would invest most of the money into stocks like Apple or Tesla as I know these companies will continuously grow. I would also donate $1,000 every year to my local charity to help give back and help the poor. If I still have excess money from this, I will spend some money on a YouTube channel so I can inspire people and maybe become an influencer.

My career as a Computer and Information Research Scientist wouldn’t prefer me to live in a certain area as most work is done digitally through a computer. However, it might help as most large technology companies are based in California which might make me move to Los Angeles. If I decided to move to Los Angeles, my cost of living would significantly increase as many things there are much more expensive. Groceries would be 30% more, housing would be 160% more, transportation would be 30% more, and healthcare would be 21% more. Housing would be the most significant factor as housing in Los Angeles is 160% more than in Houston which would drive my main expense up by a lot! I would need to make a salary of $200,147 to live in California as comfortable as I would live in Houston which I find rather absurd. However, the average salary in California is higher compared to that of Houston which somewhat makes up for the immense price increase. Another city I would think about living in is New York City as it is home to many very large technology companies. However, moving to New York City would be very expensive. Groceries would be 44% more, housing would be 283% more, utilities 7% more, transportation 11% more, and lastly health care which would be 16% more! The most noticeable price increase would be housing as it is around 3 times more than Houston! Thankfully people in New York get paid higher on average then Houstonians which can help in paying the immense amount of money needed to live in Brooklyn compared to Houston. Living in these two cities might cost more than Houston but these cities have much more job opportunities and provide a higher chance of getting into a more well-known company and business.

While studying for becoming a Computer and Information Research Scientist, I can volunteer at some organizations to show my future employers that I am truly caring about the community. Also volunteering and doing these things can potentially help me get some experience under my belt. One place I can possibly volunteer at is the United Way of Greater Houston. For this, I will need to teach people how to do small coding along with teaching them how to use the Adobe Creative Suite software. During volunteering, I can potentially meet other Computer and Information Research Scientists who are trying to help out in the community helping me make connections. These connections can potentially land me a job with a company or help start a valuable friendship. To continue, another place I would volunteer at is the RSVP of Southeast Texas. During volunteering, I would have to help maintain and add information to a website that is for a disability awareness non-profit. While doing this I might meet website developers and I can get insight into how they do things differently compared to my future job. Additionally, these website developers also might have a computer science degree so maybe we could study together, or they can give me a few tips! I think volunteering would be a good idea as it helps the community while still giving me experience for my future job.

My long-term goal is specifically to become an accomplished and successful Computer and Information Research Scientist. I plan to do this in around 8 years as I am only in 9th grade and need 4 more years of high school and at least 2 years of college to get my degree and job. In order to do this, I will take notes in all my classes to make sure I sustain all the information I learned. I will also go to as much volunteering as needed until I am comfortable with my future tasks to make sure I get a good job and do my job well. Lastly, I will study very hard and get good grades so that I can go to a prestigious university such as Rice University and study well while making connections in the industry. After getting out of university I hope to get a job at Microsoft as it has been my dream job to work there since I was a kid. An obstacle that might get in my way is depression as obtaining a computer science degree can be very tedious and takes a lot of hard work. However, I plan to persevere throughout the hard times and study to make it big later in life. After reaching this goal, I imagine myself to be a happy person living a lavish life, becoming married soon, and having kids and inspiring them to work hard in life while doing good for the world.