2076-04-15 My Career: Swift and Uncontrolled

I have been better than average at seeing future potentials, but I have also made some laughably bad calls.

Anyone can become an inventor as long as they keep an open and inquiring mind and never overlook the possible significance of an accident or apparent failure.—Patsy O’Connell Sherman

Looking backward (apologies to Bellamy), I suppose there is some substance to the accusation that my career has been, shall we say, less than consistent. On paper, it appears that I have jumped from discipline to discipline, never staying very long by conventional standards, and seemingly leaving just when I was attaining the conventional end goal.

Such observations could be argued, but they would be wrong. Each apparent change was simply the natural progression of my interests, my mastery of each new discipline, and my perception of an intriguing new set of opportunities in a logical direction.

One should also keep in mind that these changes were the product of the data I had on hand, the options I could perceive, and, of course, my own mental outlook and experience at that point. I am not omniscient, nor have I ever been truly prescient. I have been better than average at seeing future potentials, but I have also made some laughably bad calls.

For example, my choosing to turn down offers from CalTech and MIT, and instead attend Ohio State for my undergraduate program, was simply due to finances. The more elite schools offered only partial scholarships, meaning that I would have graduated with a crushing debt load. Instead, I was able to complete my first degree on a full scholarship, supplemented by part-time work that improved my professional network and gave me valuable work experience.