10/06/2014

I was not ready for education beyond high school. I was not ready to go to college. I went
because it was expected. The plan after thirteen years of school was to go for another four to six
more. The plan failed with the consecutive deaths of my father, his father, and his younger
brother. In the mist of it all I moved from school to school gathering credits as I went. The only
constant was libraries. As a student for the first half of my life I spent so much time in libraries
that I wound up working in them. I began as a freshman work study student at Norlin, later a
summer job as a Virtual Tape Librarian at Lockheed Martin, and finally a clerk with the Public
Libraries for nearly a decade.
The interesting thing about that career path is someone else had to point out to me how
much I liked working at Norlin to give me incite enough to seek similar jobs. On my last job
everyone kept telling me I should do something in computers because I taught computer classes
for patrons, and was good at troubleshoot both the librarys and patrons personal technology. I
kept the temperamental wireless network going as well.
In spite of all that I didnt want a permanent tech. job. My fear was that my beloved
hobby would become a chore and I would burnout. Eventually I burnout anyway, but the world
did not end. I took a break and went back to my pursuits again later. That all ended with closures,
layoffs, and my becoming a displaced worker. After a year of fruitless job hunting I found
myself in the same position as my two maternal aunts and three uncles. I followed their example
and at 37 I went back to school.
I am again following the advice of those around me by choosing employment somewhere
in the IT field. My hope is that at University I will gain what I need to realize that bright future.