I would like to tell my story (in English since I need to keep practicing my writing).
Life has a funny way to make our desire come true. A more religious person would say God works in mysterious ways, however I am not religious person and I do not think I am qualified to write something about God’s works. Anyway retrn to my story.
I was introduced to computer in the mid 1990. It was a subject on my first year of high school. Please remember that at that time computer was less glamorous. GUI was scarce, I was lucky to have a CGA monitor. Heck, even copy/cut paste was a luxurious feature. My father bought me a PC (an AT 80286 with 1 MB RAM, 2 of 5.25 inch floppy drive 1.2 MB and 360KB). I have been experimenting with it ever since. At school I was taught programming with BASIC and a bit of C. I learned independently others programming language such as PASCAL, FORTRAN, etc. I spent my allowances on books and magazines. However, I soon discover that I was and am suck at programming. I am good at solving computer problems but sucks at programming.
Graduated from high school, I am applying to two state universities for bachelor of computer science programs. One was at Gadjah Mada University within Faculty of Natural Science and Mathematics the other was at University of Indonesia within Faculty of Computer Science. My parents asked me to also listed Accounting as the third options. I was failed the entrance test.
My friend asked me to try for Accounting Atma Jaya Yogyakarta University. I selected Accounting and Management at Faculty of Economics. The Accounting program was still at second grade accreditation status, which meant at some point I have to sit on State Held Exam for obtaining the degree. The reason I am applying was to spent time before I retook the State University Entrance Test the next year. I was accepted.
Although accounting was a bit of a shock for me (came from biology at high school), I was quiet good. I had decent GPA and gained new friends. Unconsciously, I gave up computer science for my new comfort zone. I still took the State University Entrance Test, but deliberately unprepared. I was failed again.
In my college years, I found Information Systems disciplines. I was fascinated by the mix of technical and non technical aspects of technology. My skills in IT was also significantly increased when I was hired as computer laboratory assistant. I was guided by Mr Siswanto. He taught me a lot on general aspects of IT (especially networking and problem solving). He also pointed a new direction for me to be a scientist (albeit within applied science).
Graduated with decent GPA (not a stellar), I was applying for lecturer position at UAJY and get it. I was assigned for a new IS discipline within the Accounting Department. In 2000, I went to University of Wollongong to study for Master of Information Systems degree and graduated in 2001 (later it was amalgamated into faculty of IT). Just 11 months after I returned from Wollongong, I went for my PhD at University of Technology Sydney. Here is the incredible part, I was graduated with PhD in Computer Science.
My dream when I graduated from high school was fulfilled and even better than what I expected. Life is indeed funny.