Donna Goins

Donna Goins

Government Accountant, Retired


County of Kern

Bakersfield, CA USA


Explore! All experiences help create a broad background in order to be useful to a profession.

Milestones

My road in life took a while to figure out.
In junior high I chose college prep path through high school.
After high school graduation, I worked in accounting for three years without any further schools. I took any on-the-job training useful at the time.
After three years, I took one junior college class in accounting and decided I really like the field.
In a financial planning seminar, we were told to take one class every semester to broaden skills for future. I followed the recommendation.
I started to complete certificate for business at community / junior college.
While working, I decided to explore a few other courses such as geology that helped me understand the reports I was reviewing.
I learned to reevaluate my educational path periodically and eventually switched to taking general education courses to aid entrance into university. Then took the big step and moved for school.
At university I was told the career path to take. I tried it, it wasn't right and I was fired for the first time. This led to the right path for me and I worked for 20 years before retiring at age 58.

Education

High School
Junipero Serra High School
Bachelor
Accounting and Business/Management
California State University, Bakersfield
Bachelor
General Studies and Business
Three community colleges

Career

Government Accountant, Retired

I provided accounting services for public health programs. I helped managers make purchasing and staffing decisions.

Career Roadmap

Roadmap
My work combines:
My work combines:
Government
Non-Profit Organizations
Problem Solving

Day to Day

Gathering information, especially numbers such as dollars spent and to be spent, revenues collected and to be collected, hours spent and to be spent. Downloading and uploading data from and to reports and spreadsheets and converting the data into useful information specific to projects in order to support managers of a variety of programs affecting government, non-profits, and general community.

Recommended Education

My career is related to what I studied. I'd recommend the path I took:

undergrad
Bachelor
General Studies and Business

Hurdles

The Noise I Shed

From Teachers:

"I must become a certified public accountant to be worthwhile."

Challenges I Overcame

Learning Issues