Jonathan Ramos' grandmother was puzzled: Why was her young grandson asking her for a screwdriver? She got her answer a few hours later when she found him taking his toys apart to figure out how they worked. That childhood curiosity stayed with Jonathan as he grew up, and it inspired him to pursue a career in digital simulations with Full Sail's Simulation & Visualization degree.

Jonathan maintained his interest in how things worked as he grew up in Puerto Rico. He looked at computer science degrees when it was time for college, but he didn't want to spend four years learning theories from books. A friend told him about Full Sail, and Jonathan was sold.

"He's telling me about this university, Full Sail, where [...] you study all week and you finish in two years. And I'm like, I'll take it," Jonathan says.

Once Jonathan arrived at Full Sail, he found his place in the Fab Lab with instructor Pat Starace. The hands-on nature of his Digital Fabrication course was exactly what he'd been looking for in a college class. "I was able to get a lot of projects with circuit boards, 3D printers, and all that," he says. "It was a very fun environment because I was able to learn how to build stuff, how to dismantle stuff, and I had to creatively think."

That appreciation for hands-on learning came in handy after Jonathan graduated and started his career. He's currently a software engineer for Engineering and Computer Simulations (ECS). The company creates simulated programs for military and police agencies to train them for scenarios in the field. "We pretty much create a new way of learning for them… [it teaches them] how to save lives and how to get through these situations," says Jonathan.

The programs Jonathan learned how to use at Full Sail, like Visual Studio, Unity, and SOLIDWORKS, were the building blocks he needed to use simulation software in his career. "Learning [those] is everything you need to get started," he says.

Jonathan loves his job because he gets to create things that have never been made before. His strong relationship with Pat Starace helped him land his first job in the industry, and they're still friends today.

"Pat was my favorite teacher, he was able to teach me a lot of stuff concerning computer science," says Jonathan. "He really is something else. Heck, I even invited him to my wedding, and we had a blast."