Greetings from Las Vegas to all of my faithful followers, loyal friends, and random stumble uponers!
A few weeks ago, @rambo and @missy asked us to write about what we wanted to be as a kid, and what our current profession is... so here I go.
Like most little kids, I probably wanted to be a police officer or a fireman when I grew up. But honestly, I don't remember if I did or not. My earliest recollection of what I wanted to be when I grew up was to play baseball... be a professional baseball player.
I played Little League baseball starting when I was 8 until I was 12. 1 year of t-ball (team name: Stars), 1 year of minor league (Bears), and 3 years of major league (White Sox). Every waking moment was spent thinking about, talking about, or playing baseball. I lived and breathed baseball year round.
In t-ball and minor league, I played 2nd base, though I pitched one game in minor league too. On the White Sox, I mostly played the outfield, first right field, then center field. But I also played one game a first base, one game at catcher (I loved playing catcher), and I pitched one game. I probably played a game or two at 2nd base, and maybe one game at 3rd base. Might have played left field a time or two as well.
Growing up north of Los Angeles, I was a Dodger fan (I became a St. Louis Cardinals fan in 1979 around the time the Dodgers let Steve Garvey, Davey Lopes, Jimmy Wynn and a few other players leave, and Bill Russell and Ron Cey retired). My parents, and my step-grandfather took me to Dodger games occasionally, but not as often as I would have like, I'm sure. My favorite player was Jimmy Wynn. He was short like me and I played center field like him. I was also a fan of Steve Yeager, catcher for the Dodgers. When we played softball during recess and lunch, I usually played catcher, pretending to be him.
The age limit for Little League baseball is 12 years old. Where I lived, once you turned 13, you "graduated" to Babe Ruth League. After my last season of Little League, I was not voted onto the All-Star team by the other kids, even though I was probably one of the better players in the league. It was more of a popularity contest rather than a vote for the best players. [The ALl-Star team competed in the Little League World Series tournament, with regional winners getting to play in the Little League World Series.] But when you're 12 and kids your age don't vote you onto the All-Star team, you think you aren't that good. Plus, as I said, I was a small kid. Those two things combined, I didn't think I was good enough or big enough to play with the "big boys" in Babe Ruth League. So I didn't play baseball the next summer when I was 13. Instead, I figured I wait a year and try out for my high school team. I didn't expect to make varsity as a freshman, but I did expect to make the freshman team, if not junior varsity. But I didn't, and that was the end of my baseball career, before it really got started. Well, there is one more baseball story... just a minute...
I found out later that if the Little League coaches and managers had voted for the All-Star team, I'd have made the team. Knowing that I probably would have played Babe Ruth League baseball, but I wasn't told until it was too late. I do wish my parents had encouraged me to continue playing, but they were pretty passive... going along with whatever decisions I made without really discussing them with me or encouraging me to stick with it and try.
So, that last baseball story...
After high school my best friend, Dennis and I, attended the local junior college. I wanted him to try out for the baseball team with me. He was like "but we'll get cut." I told him, "yeah, but it'll be fun and since we know we'll get cut, there's no pressure!" So we tried out and got cut as expected, but it was a fun two weeks!
After that, I played a lot of softball... Magic Mountain Intramural League, Church League when I lived in Alabama (we won the Alabama State Class C Church League Championship in 1986), USAF Intramural League when I was stationed at Spangdahlem AB, Germany, Las Vegas Corporate Challenge Tournament and a warm up tournament, and Charlottesville, Virginia City League.
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So, with my baseball career derailed before it really got started, I needed a new profession to aspire to. I got interested in geology from my mom. While I was in high school, she was getting her Associates Degree in Bookkeeping. She had to take a physical science, but she didn't want to have to take extra math classes for chemistry or physics, so she took geology. She took me and my brother with her on class trips. I really enjoyed going on those with her, my brother and my maternal grandmother. I learned some about geology and decided that's what I wanted to study in college. So I got my Bachelor of Science degree in Geology. I wanted to work for the United States Geologic Survey, but it's very difficult to get in. So I applied to virtually every oil company that was hiring. But they all came back with the same rejection... sorry, but we are now looking for people with Masters in Geology. I wasn't ready to go back to school for another 2-3 years, not to mention pay for it. Eventually, I enlisted in the United States Air Force. I intended to stay in for at least 20 years and retire. I wanted to earn a commission and become an officer, but the USAF would never select me. After my 6th rejection, I decided I had enough and I separated with an Honorable Discharge. I tried a few jobs before I ended up in my current profession.
Retail Management Trainee at Walgreens... that lasted a week or two.
Accounts Receivable with Budget Suites of America... hated all 9 months of it
Web Designer at FPS Internet in Santa Ana... loved it but didn't like being away from my wife (she was still living in Las Vegas) and I wasn't making enough for us to move to Southern California.
Search Engine Marketing Specialist with The Selling Source... loved it but they eliminated my position after two years.
That's when I got a job as a Software Test Technician at Bally Gaming and Systems (later renamed Bally Technologies... and now owned by Scientific Games). I knew nothing about testing software and had never seen the inside of a slot machine. But I took to it like a fish to water. I thoroughly enjoyed it, learning everything I could, eventually working my way up to Test Manager.
I'm still testing software... my current title is Senior Quality Assurance Engineer. I work at Softvision, which is an international software development consulting company. Most of my work now is writing and executing automated tests... so, yeah, I write some code, usually Java.
So there you have it... As a kid I wanted to be a professional baseball player and today I am a software test engineer, primarily test automation.
Stay Tuned...
DeadGuitarist
