How did I become a secretary?  Well, I stopped taking math courses in seventh grade.  I was accustomed to excelling in everything that I took.  I got my first C grade in Math so I stopped taking it.  I had no one in my life at the time to tell me that this wasn't a good idea.  So I focused on a "business" major in high school.  I took a year of secretarial classes at a local college after high school and presto, I was a secretary.  By the time I was a young adult, I couldn't even divide two numbers without a calculator. 

When I started working at IBM, I realized that I had an aptitude towards using and helping others with using computers. After getting a much-needed divorce, at the age of 25, I started going back to school.  At the encouragement of people that I met at IBM, I pursued a Bachelors of Science in Computer Science.  I'll never forget the first non-credit Math course that I took at the local community college.  The first subject was "where the comma goes in 1000".  I did know that, but there were things that I didn't remember by the end of the course.  I found the Math was pretty easy until I started taking Calculus.  I was able to complete all of my courses in and related to Math straight through Calculus 2, Statistics and Physics 1 and 2.  The programming didn't come easy for me either, but within a year of starting classes, IBM hired me as a Database Administrator, so I was learning on the job, as well as at school.  I knew a lot of people (mostly women) that were taking a BA degree just to avoid the Math and other technical classes.  For me, it was personal, I wanted to get a technical degree and the knowledge I knew I needed to truly succeed in my career.  

I received my bachelor's degree in 2002 at the age of 32.  I am the first and only person in my immediate family to receive a bachelor's degree. I have a very rewarding career in Software Engineering. 

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Belkis October 22, 2008 96.242.94.239	Wow, that is so inspirational. Thank you for sharing your story. In high school, I couldn't stand math at all. I hated dealing with numbers. Not until I got to college was I able to understand it. So I can totally relate to what you went through.

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