This is one of several posts I made about the technical college I attended from 2005 to 2007. This one got ome of my friends who work there into a little trouble. Even though the damage is done and I feel that what I said was warranted but I have decided to remove the name of the college to distance myself from this kind of writing. This isn’t how I want people to find me in a Google search.
Today I received my diploma from unnamed technical school in the mail. My name was spelled correctly, they put the right degree on the paper, my transcript was included, and I never had to call and remind them to send any of it to me (which I was expecting to do at some point).
My experience at unnamed technical school has finally come to a close. As such, I expect this post to be my final installment discussing my time spent at unnamed technical school. To say that I didn’t like going to unnamed technical school would be an understatement. I wasn’t comfortable there as a student, a lot of times I was restless and miserable and would take much needed breaks just to get out of the classrooms for 2 minutes. In fact, I hated attending unnamed technical school as a student and it goes without saying that I also greatly disliked my job as a workstudy in the campus IT shop. Basically, I collected a paycheck from a place I hated, which meant I was always at least a little conflicted about publicly voicing my opinions about the school on this site. I voiced them anyway, because my complaints were based entirely on my experiences as a student– a dissatisfied customer– and no portion of the Federal money unnamed technical school was drafting my paycheck out with would ever break even against the Federal money I took out in loans in order to attend. Also, I needed to vent my feelings for my own sake. (Thanks to everyone who tolerated or was entertained those rants).
In spite of my frustrations– maybe even because of them– I learned extremely valuable lessons about the IT field as a workstudy in the MIS shop. Mostly these lessons consisted of how not to do things and how not to communicate with and treat those that work below you. But, in the immortal words of that other famous idiot: “Thats all I have to say about that.” This isn’t really what I want to talk about.
My last few months at unnamed technical school were some of the most emotionally and spiritually draining experiences I have ever had. That sounds dramatic, but, honestly, I felt weighed down every time I walked down that wooden boardwalk to the student entrance of the school. I felt like I was slowly being transformed into someone I hated. I had a black cloud with a blue unnamed technical school logo on it floating around over my head and a matching chip on my shoulder. I was irritable (more than usual), angry (yes, more than usual) and I was flying off the handle at everyone around me (a little more often than normal). I was not someone I would want to be around, and I knew it. Were it not for some of the really great people that I befriended while attending class and working at unnamed technical school , the encouragement and tolerance of my loved ones, and the general lack of any other sensible avenue in my life at the time I probably would have dropped out. unnamed technical school was not worth my time or money.
This summer I started an “internship” at a development and construction company in Virginia Beach. It’s only technically an internship for me because I fulfilled my internship requirements for school while I was working in the MIS shop. (So it’s basically a Summer job). While working at unnamed commercial development company I have experienced an entirely different way of doing things in the IT field: a more positive atmosphere that looks for the best solutions to problems, praises a team effort above all else without pointing fingers when something goes wrong, no yelling, barking, or curmudgeonly behavior and responsibilities were evenly spread to the members of that team. Even though I am not a full-time employee, I have been treated as though I am just as valuable as the rest of the IT department and given access to everything I need to do my job. This, again, is not really what I want to talk about.
But, coming out of curriculum where the common gauge of success is getting a job where you answer phones with a headset on and talk people through the process of “installing their internets,” I really didn’t expect such a positive experience to be waiting for me when I graduated. At this time, I haven’t been offered me a real position, but it’s a stepping stone in the direction I want to go in with one of the best companies in Hampton Roads. It’s not heaven on earth or anything, but its head and shoulders above what I was expecting for someone of my level of experience (that is, not very much). Unnamed technical school really didn’t qualify me for this job, common sense qualified me for this job, but I got the job through their career center. I took the job by drudging in the MIS shop where I learned to do things totally ass-backwards and realizing that I didn’t want to do things this way, no matter how much money I could make doing it. The first question I was asked the day of my interview with unnamed commercial development company was “Do you know what RIS is and have you ever pushed software through Group Policy?” To which my inner voice (an elderly black gentleman) replied: “Hallelujah! Praise Jesus! The shepherd has led me out of the desert!!”
By the way, RIS stands for Remote Installation Service. You see, at the Virginia Beach Campus of unnamed technical school, they install all of the the software by hand for the entire campus, even though they have classes teaching the students how to do it in this automated way. But this is also not something I really want to talk about. No, I mean it this time. The point is that I am coming out of my funk, and I can look back on this whole experience in a better light. I can laugh at it. I may not have always received the education I believed I was paying for, but I learned valuable lessons nonetheless.
I also came to a valuable conclusion, looking back this whole experience, a lesson that I voiced to Kim at dinner last night: “You know,” I said. “if I could somehow be excused from at least half of my student loans, I’d probably never step foot in another IT shop again.” Even though Kim rolled her eyes at me, she knew I was right. I could walk away from this stuff any day and it would suit me just fine. I am a geek, but I don’t love computers. I like computers. I like Linux. I like Cisco devices. I like having blogs and using the web and doing little projects here and there, but, when it’s all said and done, this is a job. I enjoy working in this field more than a lot of other jobs I have had, but I just don’t have the passion for it like many of my friends do. If I could get a job teaching bass privately and have benefits and a vacation package, I’d do that in a heartbeat. If I could do even part of that just playing in bands. Done. I’d never look back.
That isn’t likely to happen, though. Not for me. Music is my passion but I don’t expect that it will ever be my job again. My financial situation demands that I have more than just sporadic payments from bass students. I’m 28. I’m approaching the close of the “making it” window, and I am about 60 pounds overweight. As a private teacher I could never afford to take a break from teaching. As an IT Professional I have a chance of taking care of myself, possibly a family, and the possibility of doing music as something I love. So, adios, unnamed technical school. Thanks and, also, no thanks. I learned a lot from you, and a large portion of it was unintentional, but I, unlike so many of your dropouts, persevered and got more out of you than I could have hoped for.
