Scott Shaulis

I was never particularly serious about school or education. My initial--loose--plan was to get my G.E.D. early, then transfer to a Community College, where the G.E.D. wouldn't matter, post-degree. I got my G.E.D.; however, I did very poorly in my classes--and, I simply didn't go or do the work.

I also dealt with numerous existential issues; family issues; and, overcoming myriad challenges in my life like drug addiction and major depression (recurrent, severe) came first. I've been clean since 2013; but, the existential issues which precipitated my drug use still remained.

It took many years of introspection and extrospection to solve this fundamental issue which revolved around what many of us have had to face on a daily basis: the meaning and purpose of existence. To my eternal chagrin, the answer I came to was rather simple: we are here, and so we are here--the why is created by us. My 'why' became: to become a force for good, in the world.

In 2018, my grandfather died and left me a few thousand dollars. Working hard labor and landscaping, every day I thought, "This is not who I am." I often daydreamed about winning the lottery or somehow magically obtaining freedom from what felt like--fatalistically--interminable indentured servitude.

With the money my grandfather left me, I took the advice of Warren Buffet: the single best investment a person can make is in themselves. I spent tons of money on natural, legal bodybuilding supplements and began learning the Structured Query Language SQL.

My self-study went well, but I still lacked structure and proof of my skillset. I determined I would get a certificate at college to prove my skills.

Being so far behind in school, to the point of an effectively 9th grade math education, I never dreamed I could actually complete a degree. I had never taken high school geometry; statistics; even my algebra was quite rusty. But I studied; I worked hard; I grew; and, I passed the TSI math portion, then two college math courses. I am now on track to complete my degree in a matter of a few months.

Ever since I've been back in school, I've maintained a 4.0 every semester. This brought my GPA up from a 1.0, given I simply never went to class or did the work, up to a 3.54. And, after I re-take a class from my past, that should bring my cumulative GPA up to 3.77.

After I complete my degree, I aim to work in either the Cloud like Amazon's AWS in Infrastructure as a Service; Information Security (though this would require an additional degree); and, potentially, in the future, on Smart Cars or technology like Elon Musk's Neuralink. Suffice it to say, my skillset currently points towards the Cloud.