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What did everyone go to school for?

brat_burner

Autocross Champion
I lived in the tutoring center at Rutgers dude. Couldn’t have gotten through programming OR precalc (yes - PRE calc) without it. OOP and Precalc were the hardest classes of my college career.
Finding the right tutor is everything. Also, I took pre-cal as a junior in high school and I remember pretty much nothing lol
 

Bcraig47

Go Kart Champion
Im currently in school to get my Heavy equipment operators ticket so I can head to the diamond mines here in Canada!
 

averyislost

Go Kart Champion
I lived in the tutoring center at Rutgers dude. Couldn’t have gotten through programming OR precalc (yes - PRE calc) without it. OOP and Precalc were the hardest classes of my college career.
Followed almost this exact path, went in for Computer Science and then decided to stick with IT since I enjoyed the computer classes but HATED math. Failed "basic Calculus" the first time around, and got an A the second time. Having a helpful teacher and some good tutors make all the difference. Thankfully UNCW created their BS-IT program the year I started so I lucked out on not having to take all the math courses.
 
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Dog Dad Wagon

Autocross Champion
Followed almost this exact path, went in for Computer Science and then decided to stick with IT since I enjoyed the computer classes but HATED math. Failed "basic Calculus" the first time around, and got an A the second time. Having a helpful teacher and some good tutors make all the difference. Thankfully UNCW created their BS-IT program the year I started so I lucked out on not having to take all the math courses.

Good stuff dude! Yeah the math is only necessary for computer/electrical engineers involved in the development of hardware. Software requires zero math to understand. It’s all conceptual.

Any particular plans with it? I.e. do you wanna hit the ground running as a web or software developer, or are you interested in InfoSec, BI, or something else? I got a classic IT support job after school which really didn’t require any IT skills at all to learn, but now that I’ve been there for 2.5 years and have the systems knowledge, I’m working on my scripting skills in CMD/Batch and Powershell. Powershell is so much easier than CMD/Batch since it has an IDE, Batch is literally just a text document with no debugging.

anyway, holler if you wanna talk young IT guy things, hopefully I Cavan impart some wisdom to help in your job/career search!
 

Dog Dad Wagon

Autocross Champion
Automation engineering technology at McMaster University. Lots of hands on experience in a University program is what sold me. Super interesting concepts to learn. I’m in my 3rd year right now.
Automation as In robotics/manufacturing, or are you an IT Automation engineer? I’m working on becoming an IT automation engineer at work right now :) I went for an opening last year and I didn’t get it but I had a really fruitful conversation with my boss who gave me a bunch of projects to prove my capabilities and gain the experience, and now another spot is opening and based on all the positive feedback I’ve received since they gave me all the automation projects I’m pretty confident that spot is mine :) part of me hopes they just give it to me and post/interview for my job, otherwise they’d have to interview twice if they ended up choosing me bc they’d then need to post my role.
 

averyislost

Go Kart Champion
Good stuff dude! Yeah the math is only necessary for computer/electrical engineers involved in the development of hardware. Software requires zero math to understand. It’s all conceptual.

Any particular plans with it? I.e. do you wanna hit the ground running as a web or software developer, or are you interested in InfoSec, BI, or something else? I got a classic IT support job after school which really didn’t require any IT skills at all to learn, but now that I’ve been there for 2.5 years and have the systems knowledge, I’m working on my scripting skills in CMD/Batch and Powershell. Powershell is so much easier than CMD/Batch since it has an IDE, Batch is literally just a text document with no debugging.

anyway, holler if you wanna talk young IT guy things, hopefully I Cavan impart some wisdom to help in your job/career search!

I appreciate that! I probably should've mentioned I graduated in fall 2017, haha. I work for a company in the energy sector. Coming up on a little more than 3 years in the industry now, but still learning more everyday. I currently work to create PowerBI reports, put together SQL queries and DAX for said reports, and work as an admin for data virtualization software. Some of the previous teams I was on had me working on Kofax Kapow automation as well, that was a lot of fun. Pretty sure I want to start working my way towards a database admin role, that's my "long-term" plan.
 

Dan_SCH

New member
Automation as In robotics/manufacturing, or are you an IT Automation engineer? I’m working on becoming an IT automation engineer at work right now :) I went for an opening last year and I didn’t get it but I had a really fruitful conversation with my boss who gave me a bunch of projects to prove my capabilities and gain the experience, and now another spot is opening and based on all the positive feedback I’ve received since they gave me all the automation projects I’m pretty confident that spot is mine :) part of me hopes they just give it to me and post/interview for my job, otherwise they’d have to interview twice if they ended up choosing me bc they’d then need to post my role.
Automation as in robotics and smart systems! Learning a bunch on smart IoT devices, PLCs, and control systems.
 

vjmvjm

Drag Racing Champion

What did everyone go to school for?​

For too long!

Civil Engineering and Operations Research. I mostly practice transportation planning and traffic engineering.
 

hotbascosauce

Drag Racing Champion
Didnt even apply for college in high school. Thought I'd go into Real Estate appraisal. It was 2007. The real estate company I was working for went bankrupt right as I graduated. Worked part time at an AT&T while I went to a community college for my Associates because I didnt know what else to do. I was never a "school kinda guy."

Ended up getting a entry level job at a law firm with help from a family friend who was the Accountant there. Worked my way up from the copy room to being a Litigation Assistant and was considering getting a paralegal certificate. Turns out our family friend was doing some really sketch accounting. He wasnt taking taxes out of my check the whole time I worked there, among other things. When they fired him, I decided to quit.

Got a temp job at Boeing shipping spare parts to airlines. My experience there led me to work at a Logistics company. After working there for 2 years I applied for college enrolled into night school. Got my BS in Business Administration with a major in Supply Chain Management. Never studied. Pretty much all of the ciriculum I had already learned on the job. Been in the industry for 9 years now. Next promotion for me is at the Director level.
 

Dog Dad Wagon

Autocross Champion
Didnt even apply for college in high school. Thought I'd go into Real Estate appraisal. It was 2007. The real estate company I was working for went bankrupt right as I graduated. Worked part time at an AT&T while I went to a community college for my Associates because I didnt know what else to do. I was never a "school kinda guy."

Ended up getting a entry level job at a law firm with help from a family friend who was the Accountant there. Worked my way up from the copy room to being a Litigation Assistant and was considering getting a paralegal certificate. Turns out our family friend was doing some really sketch accounting. He wasnt taking taxes out of my check the whole time I worked there, among other things. When they fired him, I decided to quit.

Got a temp job at Boeing shipping spare parts to airlines. My experience there led me to work at a Logistics company. After working there for 2 years I applied for college enrolled into night school. Got my BS in Business Administration with a major in Supply Chain Management. Never studied. Pretty much all of the ciriculum I had already learned on the job. Been in the industry for 9 years now. Next promotion for me is at the Director level.

good for you man. I love to hear success stories of “alternative paths”
 

Superfreak

Autocross Champion
I barely graduated High School, and didn’t understand the importance of education or specialized knowledge until a few years later. I’d started to see friends and peers get ahead, economically, and gave college a try in my early 20’s (community college and then that POS school, University of Phoenix). I was pretty much flying blindly and getting in debt fast with no direction or guidance, so I stopped going to college. After a few years of fumbling from job to job, I decided that I needed specialized knowledge/ skill and joined the Marine Corps. Thankfully, I scored very well on the ASVAB, and was able to get into the USMC as a Radar Repairman. Radar required a lot of specialized schooling (electronics and electro-mechanics), and I was able to jump into technical jobs when I left the Corps. At first, I was a technician and then moved up to engineering. I’m now and engineer, by title, but still don’t have a college degree.

I see college as a good way to get specialized knowledge but I don’t buy into the idea that expensive schools are necessary to be well educated. Trade schools, military training, or even certification programs are all great alternatives to conventional college programs. If I were more ambitious, I’d take advantage of the free online classes at Harvard or MIT, or even go back to school (and get paid for it, utilizing the MGIB). One of my co-workers, that’s prior Air Force, is in an accelerated program to become a commercial pilot.

A strange takeaway for me, regarding college in my own family: I have 3 brothers, and only one has a college degree. The brother with a degree works 3 jobs (by choice), and makes less than the lesser educated brothers.
 
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