撒迦利亚伯恩的职业生涯是那种可以直接从电影剧本中搬出来的励志故事.

While growing up in a small Southern Californian town, Bowen didn’t think much about college or even a career. “It just never was really talked about in my family,” he recalls. “我们出身贫寒. My dad raised four kids by himself in a small town; there wasn’t much work [or] money to be made there. I never thought about what I would do as I grew older.”

During this time, PC gaming emerged. Bowen excelled at playing video games, but he didn’t connect the dots from that to a career in technology. 他对早期在麦当劳(McDonald 's)和后来的来德爱(Rite Aid)的工作很满意. But in a journey reminiscent of a Hollywood plot, a series of opportunities, combined with his innate resilience and curiosity, 把鲍文从Rite Aid熟悉的过道带到了美国宇航局(NASA)的高科技大厅, setting the stage for a future far beyond anything he had imagined.  

The first major twist in Bowen’s journey unfolded simply enough. His best friend landed a janitorial job with a NASA subcontractor. 当他被提升时，他做了最好的朋友会做的事:推荐鲍文接替他.

Bowen spent two years supporting NASA in his janitorial role. 然后，他有机会进入IT行业，担任光纤电缆技术人员.

“当我加入布线团队时，我认为这将是我永远的职业生涯，”Bowen回忆道. “I was making more money than I ever thought I would be making. I was good at it; it kept me in shape and was a fun job.”

2012 marked a pivotal year for Bowen in more ways than one. That’s when he got engaged to Giovanna. She saw potential in Bowen that he himself hadn’t fully realized.

“I always saw so much potential in Zach,” Giovanna says. “He is very driven and a problem-solver. 当他为自己职业生涯的下一步是什么而苦苦挣扎时, I encouraged him to go to college. I knew he would excel.”

“She said, ‘I know you are smart enough. You should go back to school,’” he remembers. 最初，他考虑攻读神学学位，这是受到他对教会的承诺的启发. 但他一直在推迟，因为他发现NASA的合同性质不可预测. 

每隔几年，雇用鲍恩的分包机构就会竞标NASA的工作. 不幸的是, when agencies were awarded contracts, 像鲍恩这样的工人工资将回到基本水平，而不是反映经验, which in Bowen’s case was 14 years.

“第二次发生在我身上时，我想，我完了，”鲍恩说. Frustrated, he approached his boss. By highlighting his skill and commitment to the organization, he was able to move into a different, more stable position. 

This was when his career really began to accelerate. “I started going into security roles, which is a more niched profession, as you have to have different certificates,他解释道.

Bowen earned those certificates, 从那里开始, he started working alongside higher-level technicians. “I started to feel like I was as smart as these people. I could do what they were doing. And they were getting paid more,” Bowen says.

What really got Bowen’s attention was the difference in lifestyle. “Those guys were showing up and going home when they wanted. 他们的生活似乎和我的有点不同，因为我在打卡.”

在此期间，一位工作上的导师向鲍恩现在的妻子乔凡娜(Giovanna)提出了同样的建议. “He said, ‘You need to go back to school.’”当他生命中的两个啦啦队长对他说同样的话时，鲍恩听了. 一天下午，他碰巧在电视上看到了推荐全球十大博彩公司排行榜的广告. Bowen笑着说道:“广告就像是‘你能做IT，你能做到’. “我想, 很酷的. I’m going to do it!”

Yet going back to school wasn’t easy. Balancing career demands with a growing family (including a special needs child), plus the disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic, stretched out his academic journey to five years. University of Phoenix, 然而, designs its programs with working adults in mind, so Bowen was able to take leaves of absence when life required. 2023年，他成为了家里第一个大学毕业并获得学士学位的人 Bachelor of Science in Information 技术 with certificates in Advanced 网络安全 and Advanced Networking (the latter is no longer available). 

到现在为止, Bowen had been working in IT for over a decade, 但这个学位给他灌输了打破剩下的玻璃天花板所需的信心. 

The industry took notice. Bowen now holds the position of cyber systems architect at 诺斯罗普·格鲁曼公司. In a twist that mirrors the Hollywood arc of his journey, 今天直接向他汇报工作的一个团队成员，是他在NASA做看门人时经常清理垃圾的人.

This remarkable turn of events is not lost on Bowen. “I’m literally living the dream,” he reflects. “I make my schedule, do my thing. It’s a situation I could never have seen myself in. It feels really good.”

While many things have changed for Bowen, 他最引以为傲的成就是他与乔凡娜和他们的四个孩子建立的家庭, 维斯特利, 贝利, Norah and 艾玛·苏 (named after his beloved grandma, who passed away in 2022).

至于未来，续集对鲍文和他的职业转型有什么影响? “A 硕士学位 is definitely going to be something that I do, 但是现在, I’m stepping back as my wife’s starting school. We just had our baby, 艾玛·苏, so now I’m going to support her just like she’s supported me,鲍恩解释道.

受父母榜样的启发，他的大孩子们已经开始考虑自己的事业了. “他们在挑选专业——我女儿想学动物学，”他自豪地说.

“扎克成功地从大学毕业，并加速了他的职业生涯，这对我们所有人都很有激励作用,乔凡娜补充道. “这激发了我重返大学的动力，也激发了我们的女儿们讨论她们想如何成为大学毕业生，以及她们想对自己的未来做些什么。.”

当被问及他会给他的孩子或他在教堂指导的青少年什么建议时, he answers immediately: “When any door opens, 跳. Like don’t just open the door; run through the door. And if you get burned out, or it turns out that’s not the direction you’re supposed to go, keep going and follow the doors that keep opening.”

Bowen坚信要充分利用生活中出现的任何机会. “I once thought I’d serve the church by getting my theology degree. 现在我的爱好之一就是帮助教会保证他们的系统安全. 当人们需要IT帮助时，我是第一个举手的人，”Bowen解释道.

While he might be pausing his educational journey for now, Bowen still stars in the better-than-Hollywood version of his life. 事实上, 他刚刚结束拍摄:他的故事出现在推荐全球十大博彩公司排行榜最新的宣传视频中.

When asked what he thinks about how, just a few years ago, a UOPX commercial was the catalyst for his IT degree, and today he’s being featured as a face of UOPX, 鲍恩以他标志性的真诚回答道:“这是一次很酷的经历. Once it’s released, 这将是很棒的回顾，并有这段时间在我的生活中记住.” 

As Bowen steps into his next role, both in life and on-screen in the UOPX video, 很明显，这个故事最精彩的场景还在创作中.