"Challenge of my first day as a software programmer with no programming background"

so i wrote this one pretty fast as well.

Tell us about the most significant challenge you've faced or something important that didn't go according to plan. How did you manage the situation?(*) (200-250 words)

I showed up to work on my first day as a software programmer with no programming background. I had been hired at a Michigan-based insurance agency for my general familiarity with computers, but of programming, I knew nothing. My supervisor, an awkward young man who handled all the tech work for the entire agency, was to teach me to write script and perform any necessary programming tasks. But, due to his crushing workload, I was simply given an assignment and told to inform him when it was finished. There was no instruction.

I soon realized that my supervisor would be of no help; I would have to rely on myself. For the next week, I observed finished projects, trying to understand how they worked. I made small changes, to see what each function controlled. What I did not understand, I Googled and found explanations for in programming forums. Slowly I began to learn. I completed my first assignments and received others. The previously unintelligible code began to take on the semblance of a language, something familiar and natural.

Now, months later, I have carried out virtually every programming task in the office, everything from writing help files for insurance score software to bridging scores between insurance companies and customers. My supervisor still offers no aid, but I look back and realize that maybe I didn't need his help to begin with; that I have never needed anything other than my own willingness to learn, and perhaps a good search engine.

any opinions, suggestions, anything would be appreciated :D
i kind of hate the conclusion, but i've always been terrible at those. anyone think they can help me with that? thanks in advance

so i'm not allowed to fix the title of this thread? because i kind of hate what they changed it to...

I am surprised that you say you hate the ending...personally i find it marvellous! Maybe you can add in that you have eventually came to the conclusion that the joy accompanying the completion of a task that you have researched from scratch feeds your inner willingness and readiness to learn more...or something to that effect :)

I had been hired at a Michigan-based insurance agency for my general familiarity with computers, but for programming,

Thanks! currently working on adding some stuff to the conclusion, but I was wondering if anyone thought that this essay wasn't all that personal? I had some friends read it over and they thought that there wasn't enough personality in it. Should I add some quotes or something to make it a little more anecdotal?

Any advice would be great, thanks.

You have some nicely structured sentences...


Sometimes I tell people that in the conclusion they should "consider the implications" or "leave the reader with something extra."

But I am just telling you that in case it gives you some insight. I agree with Radwa that the ending is great, and really the whole thing is great. In answer to this prompt, essays don't get much better than this.