In Graduate School I majored in Information Technology (aka Computer Science back in the day). I took evening classes twice a week after work. I went to a Catholic University; where nuns frequently were seen in the cafeteria and in the hallways, which took me some time to get used to.
I exceled in the design classes and in business theory. The class I hated most was the Programming class C++. I just couldn’t wrap my head around the “If…Then” statements. The example the professor always used was “If the sun is shining, then it will be a sunny day.” Yeah and so? Now translate that into programming please?!
It was after the midterm; the professor was concluding class handing out the test papers with the results. I expected a D on my test, but I got an F. When he was done handing out the test papers, he went to the front of the classroom. He cleared his throat and called out my name and six other students to meet him in his office. The professor was the Dean of the college. He was Italian with thick black curly hair. He styled it into a bro-fro. It was neatly kept but his hair protruded all around the top of his head like a stalk of broccoli.
I was anxious as were my classmates as we entered the professor’s office. He was sitting down at his brown wooden desk, surrounded by bookcases stuffed with computer books. The professor looked at us hard, his eyes were serious and then he spoke to all of us.
“As you can see from your midterm test results you are not suited to remain in my class. I recommend you drop the class as soon as you can so you may receive a partial refund.”
WTF! I thought to myself. I looked at my classmates to see their reaction. They looked solemn, one guy was nodding his head up and down in agreement. Well I was pissed! How dare he tell me what I was capable of. I went home on the bus that night getting angrier and angrier.
I woke up with a clearer head, and vowed it wasn’t going to go down like that! Just thinking about it now makes me clench my teeth. I put an ad up and I was lucky enough to get a tutor who really broke it down in a way that I could understand. He had to break it down to molecules for me to understand, it was that bad. He was very patient, and oh yeah, he was really hot! Which instead of being a distraction made me try even harder.
With much stress and anxiety plaguing me the entire time, in the end I passed the class. I felt vindicated. I said goodbye to my hot tutor and went on with my studies and eventually graduated with a Master’s Degree in IT.
Being underestimated led me to success. I believe being underestimated makes many people overcome things they thought they could never do before. Being put in that box, makes you want to break free! You don’t always succeed but it puts a fire in your belly. I write about the feeling of being underestimated in my book “Six Feet Apart: Love in Quarantine”.
Have you been underestimated? Have you underestimated someone else? Share your experience below.
