It's kind of a bummer that she knew she wanted to work with computers the whole time but her parents thought it would be more responsible to be a secretary. Glad she got there.
Yeah, I don't understand parents trying to curb aspirations in favor of practicality. I can understand if she wanted to do something that was ambitious + risky, but it's just computers. There's been nothing risky about getting an education in computers for 25 years now.
And guess who always had to fix my parent's computer in the end... Finally my interest in computers was useful xD ;-) they are very proud of my career now and are a bit of envious when I can travel the world for some SAP events :D
It might be some kind of weird older generation disdain for computers. Graduated high school in 2005 in Estonia, some of my language teachers and relatives pretty much looked down on anything computer-related and saw it as only 'playing around with widgets'. Of course, come 2009, that attitude had changed a lot after seeing that the IT-sector was the only one still hiring.
An instructor told me around 1977 that there was not going to be much need for programmers in the future, because every piece of software that was needed had already been written.
I like to rephrase statements like that in the form of: "Every possible problem and need already has an automated solution that has been mechanized and made aware by everyone on the planet."
No, it makes sense, go for the thing that will reasonably make you enough money to be comfortable and independent.
It's funny though, for me an education in computing was the practical thing. I have a science degree too but I had next to no intention of being a professional scientist.
I see. Well, if one is going to do that as a parent, one should at least be sure to understand what the practical considerations actually are. In this case the parents got it exactly wrong.
This was still a somewhat big issue for me when I was young. I'm in my mid twenties and my parent didn't really believe in tech until very recently (my success in the industry played a role in changing their mind), now they use the internet, stream content through the TV, play games on their phones, Facebook and Skype... This wasn't the case 10 years ago, though. I had to fight really hard to get an internet connection at home in 2004! Investment in computers in my household was minimal (In hindsight, I wish I had been more proactive about this - I missed a lot of opportunities). They didn't really believe in a tech career - My dad wanted me to follow a military career like the one he had!
It wasn't until I moved out and started paying my own bills that they realised I might have been on to something. Essentially, my parents believed computers were for video games, a tool for kids to have fun. Even when I showed interest in areas like programming or graphic design.