mongy910
Oct 29, 2014
Undergraduate / Large, swivelly computer chair in front of my laptop, headphones on, glass of milk - it's my place [3]
Describe a place or environment where you are perfectly content. What do you do or experience there, and why is it meaningful to you? 250-650 words
The one place where I am perfectly content is the same place where I'm sitting right now, writing this essay. In my large swivelly computer chair in front of my laptop, with headphones on, and a tall glass of lactose free milk besides me. The chair is getting to be quite old, with large tears running down it from years of my cats using it as a scratching post. It makes an obnoxious little squeak every time anyone swings it around. But at the end of any long day, its the one place where I can always plop down, open up a code editor, turn on my music, take a sip of milk, and feel all of my concerns drain away.
That chair has been with me through some of my most significant life experiences and developments. It was in that chair on my laptop that I first took an online survey in order to earn a couple cents for some extra cash. One survey turned into twenty, then thirty, and soon I had earned about $60 online. It was also in that chair that I read a book, The Laptop Millionaire by Mark Anastasi, that would inspire me to work to "sell products, not time". And it was sitting in that chair swiveling around that I used the money I had earned from taking surveys to sign up for an online web development class at teamtreehouse(deleted com because essayforum wont let me post links).
During sophomore year, I would come home every day after clubs or tennis practice, sit down at my desk with a snack, and do my homework. Afterwards, it was straight over to my favorite place. Each night was filled with the silky smooth voices of Nick Pettit, Jim Hoskins, and the other great teachers at Treehouse. Code editors flitted in and out of my dreams and missing semicolons haunted my nightmares. In a few months, I had completed courses in the major languages: HTML, CSS, Javascript, and PHP, and had started to learn from other sources as well. Soon, I was proficient in all of the main languages necessary for web development.
The chair was the home to my body for the next year as well, as I began the process of building my own website for the first time. At first, the website was simply a learning tool to explore new concepts and teach myself new things. The login page became my Javascript validation tutorial, the home page my lesson in design.
Soon, the website evolved into more than just a casual place to experiment with web development. After the site's release, I worked on increasing its traffic. I dove into learning search engine optimization to increase the site's rank on Google Search. I found the best ad networks to both advertise on and sell ad space. I learned how to increase the value of the site's traffic. In that chair, I found my interest in business. I expanded, creating more and more sites. Today, minecraftserverland, savenetneutrality, knockknock-jokes, minecraftservers, have a total of over 4 million pageviews, 500 thousand unique visitors, and have made over $5000 in profit. But more importantly, they have taught me volumes about web development, search engine optimization, and marketing. I hope to double major in computer science and business in college and continue exploring these fields.
My swivelly computer chair is the place where I became inspired by business and web development. It is also the place where I have completed several successful websites. But it is so much more than just that. It is the place where I felt free to explore and learn new things on my own terms, where I sat and brainstormed new ways to innovate, and where I sat with nervous excitement as I watched a visitor navigate my site for the first time ever. In that chair, I found my passion.
Right now, the essay is about 640 words long. Any feedback would greatly be appreciated! Thanks guys!
Describe a place or environment where you are perfectly content. What do you do or experience there, and why is it meaningful to you? 250-650 words
The one place where I am perfectly content is the same place where I'm sitting right now, writing this essay. In my large swivelly computer chair in front of my laptop, with headphones on, and a tall glass of lactose free milk besides me. The chair is getting to be quite old, with large tears running down it from years of my cats using it as a scratching post. It makes an obnoxious little squeak every time anyone swings it around. But at the end of any long day, its the one place where I can always plop down, open up a code editor, turn on my music, take a sip of milk, and feel all of my concerns drain away.
That chair has been with me through some of my most significant life experiences and developments. It was in that chair on my laptop that I first took an online survey in order to earn a couple cents for some extra cash. One survey turned into twenty, then thirty, and soon I had earned about $60 online. It was also in that chair that I read a book, The Laptop Millionaire by Mark Anastasi, that would inspire me to work to "sell products, not time". And it was sitting in that chair swiveling around that I used the money I had earned from taking surveys to sign up for an online web development class at teamtreehouse(deleted com because essayforum wont let me post links).
During sophomore year, I would come home every day after clubs or tennis practice, sit down at my desk with a snack, and do my homework. Afterwards, it was straight over to my favorite place. Each night was filled with the silky smooth voices of Nick Pettit, Jim Hoskins, and the other great teachers at Treehouse. Code editors flitted in and out of my dreams and missing semicolons haunted my nightmares. In a few months, I had completed courses in the major languages: HTML, CSS, Javascript, and PHP, and had started to learn from other sources as well. Soon, I was proficient in all of the main languages necessary for web development.
The chair was the home to my body for the next year as well, as I began the process of building my own website for the first time. At first, the website was simply a learning tool to explore new concepts and teach myself new things. The login page became my Javascript validation tutorial, the home page my lesson in design.
Soon, the website evolved into more than just a casual place to experiment with web development. After the site's release, I worked on increasing its traffic. I dove into learning search engine optimization to increase the site's rank on Google Search. I found the best ad networks to both advertise on and sell ad space. I learned how to increase the value of the site's traffic. In that chair, I found my interest in business. I expanded, creating more and more sites. Today, minecraftserverland, savenetneutrality, knockknock-jokes, minecraftservers, have a total of over 4 million pageviews, 500 thousand unique visitors, and have made over $5000 in profit. But more importantly, they have taught me volumes about web development, search engine optimization, and marketing. I hope to double major in computer science and business in college and continue exploring these fields.
My swivelly computer chair is the place where I became inspired by business and web development. It is also the place where I have completed several successful websites. But it is so much more than just that. It is the place where I felt free to explore and learn new things on my own terms, where I sat and brainstormed new ways to innovate, and where I sat with nervous excitement as I watched a visitor navigate my site for the first time ever. In that chair, I found my passion.
Right now, the essay is about 640 words long. Any feedback would greatly be appreciated! Thanks guys!
