Danny Ramirez has taken a crazy path to get where he is today. Ramirez wanted to be a computer technician, so he went to ITT Tech. He lived in Nogales, Arizona—a small border town—and needed a job. The only computer-related job was as an advertising designer apprentice, so he applied. Because of his experience, he beat out 20 other applicants. The first day on the job, his boss told Ramirez he was going to quit. He looked at Ramirez and said, "It's boring here." |
Three weeks later, his boss quit. Ramirez was asked if he had learned how to do the job. He responded, “I sure did.”
Ramirez worked there for two more years, and then he got a job working in the Tucson Newspapers IT department. That job was boring for him because he went from journalism, to waiting in the back for computers to break. He missed being around smart, capable journalists. He left his IT job and ended up being an ad designer for the Arizona Daily Star.
After working at the Star for nine years, Ramirez began to feel stalled, so he left the paper.
Ramirez is now a production and design project manager at Learning A-Z. Ramirez said he didn’t like his IT job because he missed feeling that he made a difference. He didn't feel the same pride he did when he worked in journalism. His current job includes managing the production of children's learning material.
“If you learn anything from my crazy story, never stop learning. Never allow yourself to fall behind,” Ramirez said.
He believes that if you put in the time and are always ready to make a transition, you’ll be prepared for life. “Maybe I’m lucky or maybe it’s that I never was unwilling to change,” he said.