Chi Yao

My Major

I have made a lot of decisions until now. Choosing my major is one of them; it is also one of the decisions that can most influence my life. Therefore, I decided my major by myself, and now I am studying computer science at De Anza College. I chose this major, computer science, because of my father s influence, one of my special interest, and a casual encounter.

My father s influence is the first reason that I considered choosing computer science as my major. My father is working as a computer programmer for a Japanese computer company; before going to Japan, my father was also working as a programmer in China. When I was about 6 years old, my father brought me to his office and it was the first time I met computers. While my father was working overtime, my father let me play some games on the computer. At that time, I was surprised because I had thought that computer were only used for calculation until that day. Also, I wondered who made those games, so I asked my father. He said that he made them by himself, and also, he explained that by making programs for computers, computers could do a lot of things. From that day, I started to think that I wanted make a lot of programs to make computers do a lot of things, but at that time, I still did not even know that to be a programmer I had to study computer science. However, this was my first meeting with computers, and it became the root of my reasons for choosing computer science as my major.

The second reason that influenced me to choose computer science as my major was my admiration for the scientists who made great advances for science or the lives of human beings from my earliest recollections, I wanted to do something to advance science or human beings lives. When I was a child, I liked to watch scientific movies or dramas because I could know a lot of things about science and get a lot of knowledge about science from them. When I was in junior high and high school, I eagerly studied mathematics and science courses to make my dream comes true. Currently, I think that the advancement people can expect in science and human beings lives will come from computers; therefore, I decided to study computer science.

The most important reason that pushed me to study computer science was from an accidental encounter. When I was in high school, one of my classmates was going to move, and we were close friends, so I decided to help his moving. After moving, when he was going to leave, he gave me a computer-studying machine; it looked the same as the keyboard of a computer but it was bigger than a keyboard. I could connect it to TV, play video games, or use it to make some basic programs. I became absorbed in making programs and tried to make more difficult programs but it was impossible by on this machine because it was just a studying machine. However, I enjoyed making simple programs by using that machine; I realized that I was interested in making simple programs and it might influence my life. When I was in high school, my father bought me a computer to let study computer, and I was really happy because I could make more difficult programs. However, I did not have time to make programs since I had to study hard in the high school. Even I did not have time to study computer, I still decided to study computer science at college because I really loved to make programs and because of the studying machine. If it were not for that machine, I might not have chosen computer science as my major because I also had concern about other science. I think that that machine decided my major.

I think that sometimes people hesitate about choosing a major, but it was not the case for me. Because of my three influences, I could smoothly decide what I want to study is something I am interested in. How did you decide your major, and do you like to study it?