Nick Pannell
Big Shoes To Fill
I remember waking up early in the morning to hearing my dad busily working in his basement, out of curiousity I always joined him. This is not an essay about my father, but because of him, the interesting things in my life have been decided. I would sit on a barstool, allowing me to see almost everything that was going on. His bench was full, the projects were neverending, I was intrigued. He would repair technological devices for people, or for himself, I just sat there amazed at his work. Ever since then, I have been helping him with small projects, mostly circuit boards/computer assembly. This automatically led me to the
Information Technology career field. On a financial note my family is very fortunate, I have a part time job but my expenses at the moment are very lenient.
You’ll read the requirements I need to reach my career goal, and what Computer hardware engineers do on a daily basis.
Computer hardware engineering splits up in three different areas of work.
There are 83,000 people employed as of 2012. Most of those 83,000 people work on the physical side of the job which could entail testing equipment, fixing broken/stuck equipment, or even help redesign advertisements(onetonline.org).
The less common job in the field would be working with the computer system design industry, these are jobs for people who specifically aim to integrate their education and experience into creating better hardware for computers big or small.

Nick Pannell
The last fraction of Computer Hardware Engineers work with semiconductor and electronic component manufacturing industries, they make the processor chips that are used in modern day phones. The job has such a small job outlook because of how much detail and precision it takes to become one, the processors are so small and fragile.
Since I am not interested in getting my doctoral degree, a four year degree in computer engineering is what I will strive to achieve. The four year degree requires
126 college credit hours, and the classes are a lot more strict than the computer science degree. Not only will I have to take college classes required for the degree, hands on laboratory experience is a must, plus taking classroom based seminars(bls.gov). The seminars normally run from 3-5 days, eight hours a day. All of the education that has to do with computer hardware/software should be easy for me, but what I’m nervous about is math. Calculus isn’t my strong point, but I believe if I focus hard enough anything is possible. Categories that are reached through the computer hardware degree are circuitry, which any type of computer based system has.
Another topic that is highly studied is computer design, which is the process of customizing computer structure to fit the company’s needs. Thats just a small sample of what the degrees classes would go over. Thoughts in my head are telling me to push myself farther than a 4 year degree. I think about the possibility of

Nick Pannell becoming a high ranked researcher, and the truth is I can see it happening. Getting my masters may seem like a daunting task. In order to get job’s from your masters degree, having experience is the biggest factor. but I know all of the work is worth it. The money will be a phenomenal difference if I got a leadership position, but I think I would be better off working my way up through the ranks.
After getting my Associates of Science at Columbus State, I plan on taking the pathway program to Ohio State University. Both of my parents went there and they became very successful. It only makes sense to keep the family tradition going, but before that I plan on working at Riverside in the Information Technology department(IT). My father has connections at Riverside not only because he works there, but also because he keeps in touch with the departments managerial staff.
This would give me job experience for later careers I may pursue. It won’t be a job of specialization, it would have basic