It's Time To Start....
Last Tuesday, President Obama challenged me... YES, ME (well, maybe you too, I dunno) by stating:
"And so tonight, I ask every American to commit to at least one year or more of higher education or career training."
The next day, I took a look at the college coursework I had completed so far, and realized that I was actually practically done with the general education requirements needed for a degree. However, even with as much as I have accomplished, even an associate's degree was about 2 years away. Maybe I should go for my MCITP for SQL Server 2005 instead, which is only 3 tests (although far from easy). Which to choose?
Talking with my department head, he suggested a wise course of action: go to Monster, Dice, and other job sites; search for jobs in my chosen profession; and see what their requirements were. Following his suggestion, the question was answered, hands down: Bachelor's Degree.
Several years ago, I had been bitten with the Degree Bug and had started on my part-time college career - but was discouraged after discovering that to get a Computer Science degree, I would need to take math courses all the way up to and including "Discrete Mathmatics" - this after struggling mightily to barely pass College Algebra. I decided at that time that a college degree was not in my future, and sadly put away my books. I never did loose the urge to take classes, though, and continued taking courses here and there as time and money presented itself.
However, after the President's challenge, I couldn't stop thinking about it - and the results of the job requirement search confirmed it: time to go for the degree! I immediately made an appointment to talk to the counselor at my commuity college for the following Monday - today!
Speaking to the counselor brought up the old fears though - that "Discrete Mathmatics" lurking out in the future. Noticing my concern and knowing my background, she explained that a Computer Science degree was really a variation of a math major - and perhaps I should take a look at Business Administration - Information and Decision Systems. After reading the course description, I KNEW this was the degree for me!
So, starting on March 23rd, I begin again - depending on which class I can get, I'll start with either "Principles of Macroeconomics" or "Elementary Statistics". Really hoping I can get into the Macroeconomics class, since it's an online course (the other one will require me to work half-days on Monday and Wednesday for 8 weeks - probably not an issue since I have a cool boss who supports my efforts, but would rather avoid it if possible).
While I know this is what I want, a realization must be made - it's going to take me at least 2 years to finish the Preparation for the Major courses in order to transfer to SDSU (if I can manage a half-time load - 6 credit hours/semester), and probably another 2 years to complete the Major courses. If I'm lucky, I'll get my Bachelor's Degree before I'm 50 :D So, I'm going to need something in the meantime - which is why I'm also going to get the above-mentioned MCITP certification in the meantime.
Crazy? Probably... but at least the next 4 or so years won't be boring :)
"And so tonight, I ask every American to commit to at least one year or more of higher education or career training."
The next day, I took a look at the college coursework I had completed so far, and realized that I was actually practically done with the general education requirements needed for a degree. However, even with as much as I have accomplished, even an associate's degree was about 2 years away. Maybe I should go for my MCITP for SQL Server 2005 instead, which is only 3 tests (although far from easy). Which to choose?
Talking with my department head, he suggested a wise course of action: go to Monster, Dice, and other job sites; search for jobs in my chosen profession; and see what their requirements were. Following his suggestion, the question was answered, hands down: Bachelor's Degree.
Several years ago, I had been bitten with the Degree Bug and had started on my part-time college career - but was discouraged after discovering that to get a Computer Science degree, I would need to take math courses all the way up to and including "Discrete Mathmatics" - this after struggling mightily to barely pass College Algebra. I decided at that time that a college degree was not in my future, and sadly put away my books. I never did loose the urge to take classes, though, and continued taking courses here and there as time and money presented itself.
However, after the President's challenge, I couldn't stop thinking about it - and the results of the job requirement search confirmed it: time to go for the degree! I immediately made an appointment to talk to the counselor at my commuity college for the following Monday - today!
Speaking to the counselor brought up the old fears though - that "Discrete Mathmatics" lurking out in the future. Noticing my concern and knowing my background, she explained that a Computer Science degree was really a variation of a math major - and perhaps I should take a look at Business Administration - Information and Decision Systems. After reading the course description, I KNEW this was the degree for me!
So, starting on March 23rd, I begin again - depending on which class I can get, I'll start with either "Principles of Macroeconomics" or "Elementary Statistics". Really hoping I can get into the Macroeconomics class, since it's an online course (the other one will require me to work half-days on Monday and Wednesday for 8 weeks - probably not an issue since I have a cool boss who supports my efforts, but would rather avoid it if possible).
While I know this is what I want, a realization must be made - it's going to take me at least 2 years to finish the Preparation for the Major courses in order to transfer to SDSU (if I can manage a half-time load - 6 credit hours/semester), and probably another 2 years to complete the Major courses. If I'm lucky, I'll get my Bachelor's Degree before I'm 50 :D So, I'm going to need something in the meantime - which is why I'm also going to get the above-mentioned MCITP certification in the meantime.
Crazy? Probably... but at least the next 4 or so years won't be boring :)