# The Road To Finding A Career in Web3 As A First-Gen, Low-Income Latino > My Personal Story **Published by:** [Juan Rivera Perez](https://paragraph.com/@juan/) **Published on:** 2022-10-23 **URL:** https://paragraph.com/@juan/road-to-a-web3-career ## Content As a child of immigrants who identifies as low-income and first-generation, getting to a place in my life where I knew what I wanted to do has very difficult. No one in my family had explored possibilities outside of our city. **My perspective was exceptionally narrow.** The road to finding a career I enjoy has been long and tricky. It’s not over; it is just getting started. People with similar backgrounds typically are not in the position I am in today. In this article, I explain how my background and past experiences influenced my decision to find a type of work that empowers me. It will outline why I chose to exclusively pursue a career in the emerging market of web3 and my plans moving forward. # My Background My parents moved to the United States in their early 20s to pursue a better life, and both worked in the fields. Many obstacles impeded my parent's ability to succeed in the US. They sacrificed their ambitions to create a stable enough lifestyle for their children **to thrive.** I grew up in Salinas, California, where 80% + of the population is Latino. At home, we grew up between poverty and low income. Life in a low-income bracket can be complicated when you believe your family deserves better. **I grew up knowing my family deserved better.** I put it upon myself to rise above to provide this level of safety for them. My father instilled the values of education and constant learning, while my mother instilled values of giving back, never giving up, and empathy. As a child of immigrants, I have always had an entrepreneurial spirit be part of who I am. I was the first in my family to attend a 4-year college directly. The path to was difficult. My parents didn’t have the money to send me to college, and I didn’t want to take on loans; it was too risky for a first-generation college student. I received over 20k in college scholarships during my high school senior year. I then received a full ride for Cal Poly San Luis Obispo during my freshman year. It was a fucken grind. Applying for scholarships all night long, during lunches, and during classes. You can learn more about my background and story here, __[an article written about me at Cal Poly SLO](https://magazine.calpoly.edu/winter-2021/the-rebirth-of-juan-perez/)__. If you are looking for advice on applying for scholarships, my email is always open; I can help. \ I want to map out my entrepreneurial path as I believe everything I have done in the past allows me to be where I am today. A majority of these events have been complete failures. All these events have been a learning opportunity for me to take the next step as an entrepreneur. \ Before my high school career, I didn’t do anything. I was finding myself, but I already knew that I wanted to create wealth for my family and create an impact on individuals who look like me. It wasn’t until I went to college that I started taking action. \ Future Farmers of America or FFA jump-started my career as an entrepreneur. The FFA motto states, “Learning to Do, Doing to Learn, Earning to Live, Living to Serve.” The program was a four-year course where I had the opportunity to experience many types of events. During my time at FFA, I did the following events and positions. * Opening Ceremony Events (Public Speaking) * Prepared Public Speaking Event (Public Speaking) * Impromptu Speaking Event (Public Speaking) * Greenhand Officer (Public Speaking + Leadership) * Chapter Officer (Public Speaking + Leadership) * Sectional Officer (Public Speaking + Leadership + Networking) * Raising A Hog For Market (Work Ethic + Networking) * Various Leadership Conferences (Networking + Leadership) These positions gave me the skills needed to go on to achieve what I have been able to do today. It was tough to balance everything; my parents couldn’t help me prepare and didn’t understand what I was doing. I felt very lonely moving forward. Luckily, I had mentors along the way, like Mrs. Souza. \ \ \ \ \ 📧 Email address: __[juanriveraperez00@gmail.com](mailto:juanriveraperez00@gmail.com)__ 🐦 Twitter: ____ 🔗 LinkedIn: ____ 🪞 Mirror: __[Subscribe to 0xjrp](https://mirror.xyz/0xaD5C39984149aa60663bbac47676f84192c04Ca8/subscribe)__ ## Publication Information - [Juan Rivera Perez](https://paragraph.com/@juan/): Publication homepage - [All Posts](https://paragraph.com/@juan/): More posts from this publication - [RSS Feed](https://api.paragraph.com/blogs/rss/@juan): Subscribe to updates - [Twitter](https://twitter.com/0xjrp): Follow on Twitter ## Optional - [Collect as NFT](https://paragraph.com/@juan/road-to-a-web3-career): Support the author by collecting this post - [View Collectors](https://paragraph.com/@juan/road-to-a-web3-career/collectors): See who has collected this post