Since the "About Me" section is pretty small I thought I'd start out by making my first post about me. My name is Mark Balcerak and I'm an Information Systems major at the University of Montana in Missoula. (A lot of people I know think it's in Bozeman so this warrants mentioning). I grew up in a suburb of Seattle called Kent for my entire life, living in the exact same house. Despite this, I went to schools that required a bit of driving; high school, for example, was 15 miles each way. I was part of a bowling league from fifth grade up through middle school and I still enjoy making it out to the lanes when I can. I played football in high school and I credit it for shaping me into the person I am today. It taught me a good work ethic, and that if I really wanted something and applied myself, I could succeed beyond my expectations. Sounds corny, I know. But I can't imagine what my life would be like otherwise. I'm also a huge fan of sci-fi. I grew up on Star Wars, Star Trek, and The X-Files, and have recently discovered (thanks to my insomnia) the completely awesome, tragically cancelled show Firefly. I'm also a comic book fan, my favorites being Watchmen (hugely excited for the upcoming movie) and Y: The Last Man. If you thought comic books were just for kids and geeks living in their own filth, you're dead wrong. Check out either one of these; I personally guarantee you will find them very well written and will enjoy every page you read.
I decided to go to Montana because I needed a change of scenery. It was also the only place I could see myself going to school. I looked at a lot of universities in Washington but I wasn't too excited about any of them. The summer before my senior year of high school I was coming back from a road trip to Colorado, and my cousin told me to stop in Missoula and take a tour of the town and campus, just to see whether I like it or not. About ten minutes into an informal tour of the campus I knew in my heart it was the place I wanted to go to school. And just like that, after a fifteen minute online application and a couple weeks of waiting, I got accepted.
I was a journalism major when I entered college, but after a couple years I found out it wasn't right for me. I couldn't see myself working as a journalist for a career so I decided to pick up some business classes. I've always been interested in the legal system (Jack McCoy was my favorite TV character growing up) and thought that business law might be right for me. But, yet again, the career path couldn't sustain my interest. One of the classes I took during this time was an introduction to information systems and I enjoyed the material that was being taught. I looked into it a bit more and found out that it was something I was extremely interested in. So I took the plunge and officially changed my major to Information Systems last summer. After one semester and a couple weeks through the second one I can say with confidence I made the right choice. I love working with technology. It makes sense to me, how it works and operates. It's hard to put into words but I find the entire concept of the world running on computers fascinating. Playing around with software that can change people's lives, or the way things are done, is exciting to me. I love team work and working on on things much larger than myself. The field is a natural fit for me.
As for what I want to do with my major, I can't say for certain what exactly it is I want to do. Considering that I'm graduating in December, I might want to work on this. What I do know is that I want to help people and work on diverse, interesting projects and problems. Consulting seems like a natural fit for this and I think that's the direction I'll end up going. I like making an impact on something much larger than myself, and I can see myself really enjoying consulting work.
I think I've rambled on far too long so I'll end here. Look for more, shorter blog posts in the future. Until then, live every week like it's shark week.
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