My IT Career

 

Where do I start? First, this is Derrick W. Jackson, founder of Jackson D.W. LLC and creator of the Throughput Digital blog.  I have a BS and MS degrees in Computer Science. My BS was in 1993, and I received my MS in 1998.  I decided to major in Computer Science in my senior year of high school. I took a computer literacy class and loved it. Note my love for computers began when I was young. My oldest brother had bought me and my twin a Pong game console. Then, years later me and my twin got a Commodore 64 computer for Christmas one year. We also had a Coleco Vision game console. Like many kids today, we loved playing video games. As a senior in high school, it was time to think about my career.  I chose the Computer field.

I am from Valdosta, Georgia, a small city in South Georgia. It is also very close to the Georgia-Florida line. I applied to Valdosta State University and was accepted. It wasn't easy. Those computer classes, math, and physics were not easy. I had to take a couple of computer classes over. I had gotten two D's, but I got A's when I took them over.

I wanted to Co-op or get an internship, so I used the resources of the Cooperative Education Department. Because my grades weren't good, I got passed over for many co-op jobs. I finally landed a job as a DP Intern at Packaging Corporation America, a paper mill in the nearby city of Clyattville, Georgia. As a DP Intern, I provided tech support for the PCs and dumb terminals in the main office and throughout the mill. I worked there during my Junior and Senior year but was told they did not have a full-time position for me before I graduated.

I had to find a job, so I sent out many resumes and applied to several jobs. Eventually, I was hired by the Defense Intelligence Agency as a programmer analyst. Working for the military was the best Job I ever had, but after 5 years, I got homesick for my family in Georgia, so I got a job at a company called Voicecom in Buckhead, an area in Atlanta, Georgia.

While working, I also had hobbies such as writing books and drawing. For a minute, I wanted to pursue that full-time time but eventually chose to stay in the computer field.  In October 2023, I founded Jackson D.W. to create Windows and mobile apps and train people in using the C# ( pronounced C Sharp) programming language.

In the computer field, you have to constantly update your skills. I love keeping up with current events and national and local news. One of my favorite News channels is CNN. I've noticed on CNN that they interview subject matter experts who are at the top of their fields. My goal is to be a Technology expert. Maybe one day, you'll see me on CNN or CBS News discussing computer topics. That's a future goal. My current goal is to get Jackson D.W. off the ground. Also, I want Throughput Digital to be a popular tech magazine/resource.

Note that I currently reside in Richmond, Virginia.