29 years later and I am back to college

I spent the day at Trident Technical College emulating a human ping pong ball. Ok, I guess it would be more realistic to say I emulated a wrecking ball since I am no small person. The important thing is that no one got hurt and I got a lot of things accomplished. Here I am 20 years out of High School and I am just now getting serious about going back to college. My wife has spent the last year working on her Masters Degree in Education and I have been toying around with the idea of going back to school. I have known for quite some time that my career choices have always been limited because of employers who require a formal degree and certifications. If the truth were known I should have done this 10 years ago. There is nothing I can do about the last 10 or 20 years however I can work on this now.

I have to attribute my sudden burst of motivation and forward progress with regards to going to Trident Technical College to a new found friend who I met through the Lowcountry bloggers. I met Steve several months ago at one of the BBQ meetups in Charleston SC and I learned then that he and I have the love for Texas Holdem in common. I also know that we have the love of open source Operating Systems such as Linux in common. Steve seems to have a wealth of information when it comes to running Linux on a pc. One evening not too long ago I was speaking to Steve online via gtalk and he told me about Trident Technical College and the degree program he is taking. The more he spoke the more motivated I became. Steve even went as far as meeting me early one morning and introducing me to his advisor. Since that day I have been jumping through all of the numerous hoops necessary for getting registered and obtaining financial aid so I can afford to go back to school.

I have two teenagers left at home and I have been preaching to them the importance of getting the best education possible. The best education possible includes making good grades in high school so that they hopefully can pass an SAT and get into college and get a four year degree in something other than basket weaving. When I am telling my kids about the importance of college I have always been very real with them and used my life as an example. In retrospect I have gone a long way in the I.T. industry without a degree and tons of certifications. Most people that question me about my education are amazed at how far I have gotten. I believe that God has opened some doors for me and I have been a very hard worker and I have learned all that I can from each experience whether that was a contract or full time position. I tell my kids that my story is the exception to the rule. I also tell them that if I had gotten a four year degree when I got out of high school and certifications that I should be much further ahead today in this industry than I am.

I am glad that I can be transparent with my children and I am hopeful that they will learn from my mistakes. I think that all parents want nothing more for their children than for them to NOT make the same mistakes that we did. What I did not realize was that by doing this I was basically telling my kids and myself that my chance of doing the right thing was over. I was telling them “do as I say and not as I do”. Somehow I believed that because I had failed to be successful at getting a degree that it just was not possible. Someone said something at Trident Tech that rings true. One of the ladies in Admissions said “everything happens in its due season”. I do not know why my season did not happen sooner but I am glad that it has appeared out of no where because I CAN DO IT!!!

The first person that I had to sell the notion to was myself. The other day I was thinking that if I can be an I.T. manager and manage a small network and support 60+ people on a daily basis then I must not be all that stupid. If I can solve complex I.T. related problems for a living then surely I am smart enough to crack a book and learn whatever is inside. When I think about it I am always reading and researching something computer or network related to solve a problem and that requires a lot of reading and studying all the time.

No matter what the challenge might be it is always wise to count the cost. One thing that I need to do immediately is to reprioritize my free time more effectively. I told my wife the other night that if I can spend 2.5 hours or more on the Internet playing around on Facebook, blogging, playing Texas Holdem then I can better use that time to study and earn a degree. There is nothing wrong with winding down and doing something fun for entertainment however I realize that at my age I am not getting any younger. I can no longer sit around and put off something that can always be done tomorrow. Today is the day that I must act and not tomorrow. I have to approach this one task at a time and one day at a time. From a distance the prospect of going back to school is sort of daunting and scary. I have to count the cost and make a wise investment into my future and the future for my family. In the end , if I am successful, we will all be better off for it. Not only will there be possible financial rewards with a better job but I will be more educated and that can not be a bad thing.



James Moffitt
http://www.lightourworld.com
chiefpropellerhead@comcast.net