I owe my understanding of math to two things: my father and hard work.
The door opens
In third grade I was having a hard time with math and didn't like it at all. My dad, who doesn't have a college degree, tried to help by explaining what numbers are and how they relate to each other, and suddenly it clicked. I don't remember what he said. I remember the door of understanding opening. From then on, math was my favorite subject. I was lucky it happened early, because I never fell behind.
Not a model student
Everything else was another story. I was in the advanced math classes but bored and unchallenged, and I decided school was work without pay. I graduated high school with a 1.9 GPA and swore I'd never go to college. After a couple of years of flipping burgers and filing papers at insurance companies, I changed my mind. If I wanted a chance at the life I wanted, I needed an education.
At 20, I enrolled at Pierce Community College. I was a new person with something to prove to myself and my family. I studied seven days a week, and when I wasn't in class, I was at the library at CSUN. My first Calculus test came back a 76%, mostly from careless errors. That didn't sit well with me, so I took my studying up a level. Every test after that, including the final, was in the high 90s.
Becoming a tutor
During that semester I asked the Math Department about tutoring. They don't usually hire students who are still in Calculus I, but my professor, Mr. Petersen, vouched for me, and I became a tutor. I hadn't expected how it would feel to watch a student's face when understanding arrives. It felt great. I also found I had a knack for explaining ideas, and tutoring deepened my own understanding too, because listening to students shows you how people understand and misunderstand the same idea.
Around 1987, a fellow tutor and I made fliers for private tutoring at $15 an hour. That evening I had messages waiting on my answering machine. Every student booked a second session. I was flabbergasted, and delighted.
Detours
I transferred to CSUN in 1989 and tutored in the Math Lab. I also fell hard for foosball, of all things. I played in tournaments around Los Angeles and Orange County, and as far as San Diego and Las Vegas. A friend and I even placed tables in bars and ran our own tournaments. In 1991, on a trip to Las Vegas, my sister urged me to focus on getting my degree. She was right. I sold my share of the business and went back to my studies.
I graduated in 1993 with a B.S. in Mathematical Statistics. A friend from the Math Lab and I started a tutoring company, Logical Choice Tutoring Service. We found it hard to keep good tutors, and we closed it in 1995.
Actuary, then software developer
I wanted professional experience, so I went to work as an actuary for health insurance companies, first Health Systems International and then PacifiCare. The work fit my training, but not me. In 1998 I switched to software. I took a Visual Basic class, aced the first test in about ten minutes, and the guy offering jobs in the back of the room noticed. That was how I landed at Australia-New Zealand Direct Line, the best company I ever worked for. I was there for three years, then spent two at Yamaha Motor Corporation building supply chain software, and then went out on my own with a colleague to build RFID software at Creek Systems.
Back to tutoring
Eventually I decided I'd rather spend my time doing something I really enjoy. That's why I'm tutoring again. Tutoring lets me see the results of my work in a real person, and I get to meet a variety of people, which beats staring at a computer screen all day. I'm happy to say I feel great about it.
If you'd like to know more, see my experience and education, or read what students and parents say.