Before I Knew Better

In my 100-level, I stepped onto campus for my student registration feeling like I had already made it.

In my head, I was weeks away from writing groundbreaking code, building complex stuff like Schowaz from "Henry Danger". 😪

I really pictured myself in a chilled, state-of-the-art lab, casually setting up firewalls while typing at the speed of light. 🫠

Bruhh, within three months, FUTA handed me a massive reality check.

Instead of routers, switches, and Python scripts, my first semester was dominated by MTS 101, BIO 101, PHY 101, MEE 101 and endless General Studies assignments.

So, there were no sleek tech labs?! oh my lawddd!!! 🥲

Instead, there was the daily Olympic sport of sprinting to that 1k capacity lecture theater under the blazing sun just to secure a wooden seat.

The closest I got to "networking" was forming reading groups, if only to survive those introductory maths and chemistry courses. 🫠

​I assumed studying Information Technology meant diving straight into the tech on day one. I didn't realize that your first year is basically an endurance test disguised as a general science program.

We weren't tech bros & sis or system administrators yet; we were just stressed undergraduates trying to figure out why we needed to calculate the velocity of a projectile to understand how to build an application.

You know the biggest irony? Even when we finally cleared those massive 100-level hurdles, the hands-on tech education didn't happen in the university lecture halls.

I actually had to wait until my 400-level Industrial Training (SIWES).

That was where the actual configurations, practical hardware troubleshooting, and industry-level IT finally clicked into place.

Now, as a final-year student staring down this complex, frustrating lab project and defense preparations, the irony isn't lost on me. I eventually got my hands on those Cisco environments, and learned the logical configuration of the systems I once dreamed about.

Looking back at those first few months, I can say for a fact that the university system only taught me endurance and theory, but it was the reality of the I.T placement that actually taught me tech.