Subj : Re: Higher Education and work
To   : Mike Powell
From : Kurt Weiske
Date : Sat Apr 05 2025 09:41 am

-=> Mike Powell wrote to KURT WEISKE <=-

 MP> I initially felt like I didn't learn anything practical in college,
 MP> even though I graduated with a BSBA in Management/CIS.  Looking back, I
 MP> am pretty sure that if ~18 year old me had continued in the workforce
 MP> without it, things would have been much different.  At the very least,
 MP> it allowed me 4+ years to mature a little more.

 I studied "hard" CS, and it taught me what I didn't want to do.  :)
 While I studied, I worked at the university bookstore managing a
 minicomputer, Mac desktops, the network and all of the apps that ran
 the business, from inventory to sales, to accounting.

 I realized I enjoyed working with systems and seeing my work make
 positive changes in the way people worked on a daily basis, and I
 didn't get that from programming. Sure, if I'd hung around long enough
 to to work on a Windows or a Netscape, that might have changed.

 My accounting classes taken in summer got my foot in the door doing
 data entry. Being able to speak accounting and computers got my foot in
 the door in IT. Running a P/H/A/C-adjacent board got me a job in
 telecom. Telecom begaat networking. Funny how that works...




 MP> My eventual "career job" did require a degree in order to be hired,
 MP> even though the degree didn't really qualify me for the job.  It did
 MP> allow me to get my foot in the door at a higher pay grade than I
 MP> otherwise would have, and gave me an opportunity to show what I could
 MP> really do, whether I learned it in college or otherwise.

 MP> I also sometimes believe that the job I had while going to college...
 MP> working in the college library... helped prepare me more than the
 MP> actual degree did.  I could not have worked there, though, if I was not
 MP> a student.

 MP> Mike


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