At one of my other online haunts we were discussing the GI Bill the other day. I mentioned that I had the GI Bill, that it should have run out in 2004, but since I went back on active duty from 2003 to 2004 the time on it reset another ten years.
One of my online friends said that I was stupid for not taking advantage of it and going back to school, and I agreed with him.
See, I've been married and had to support a family for a very long time now. School, which is one of the reasons I joined the military, has always been a second- or third-class concern.
I've been able to attend classes here and there. I started in 1995, a little less than a year after I left the military. Unfortunately I got laid off and I had to move.
In 1996, I tried again, and I took some very good classes such as writing and economics. In fact, I gained a life-long love for economics during this period. Wow, talk about your group psychology!
After about a year of that (remember, I was taking classes part-time, not full-time) things got kinda hectic so I stopped. I've been trying to remember when I started classes up again.
Hmm. It had to be 2000 or so.
I took classes at two different campuses, because the local community college has several campuses. One class was in southwest Portland. The other was closer to home in Beaverton.
I remember because the Rock Creek Campus, the one that was closest to home and to work, I used to go play volleyball before or after class with some young folks. I had a blast. I was much more active then.
Now when I first started my college career, I didn't think that I was smart enough to be an engineer at the time. My high school didn't even offer calculus, even though I took five years of mathematics in four years of high school. I took the highest math available to me.
But after my first few terms of school, I realized that I was smart enough to be an engineer. I just needed to work a little bit harder to achieve my goal. Such as learn calculus.
Well, anyway, it was a mixed bag. While I was a better student than I was in high school (where I never studied but always tested well) I still carried over some bad habits if I wasn't too interested in the class. Plus a bad experience of being accused of cheating when I didn't...
So as I've mentioned before, when 9/11 happened I joined the Army National Guard. When 2003 came around and my unit had to be deployed to Kuwait and Iraq, I had to drop my classes. I was only taking Physics 222 at the time.
Since then, I really haven't had the motivation to return. At least, not until recently, when I took my son to visit the University of Oregon during Spring Break. I felt a weird combination of jealousy and pride; jealous that I knew that I didn't have the same opportunities that he has and that I'll probably always resent it, and pride in that my son was totally blown away by the possibilities and even though he is not a star student he still wants to attend college and become a teacher.
So it comes back around to my opening paragraph -- I need to get started again. I looked up some stuff on the Portland Community College website and saw that they were offering some of the computer science classes that I'm interested in during spring and summer terms. Unfortunately, my first interest came on the same day that spring classes started.
However, I plan on taking one class (a C++ class, CS162) this summer starting near the end of June. I hope to break beyond the beginning programmer stage that I've been stuck in for the past twenty-six years. And I hope to add some momentum to my own college hopes again. As I put it to a coworker today, I hope to earn a four-year degree before I die or retire, whichever happens first.
My eventual goal is to take as many community college classes as I can and then transfer to Portland State University and finish a degree in Computer Engineering. I want to work with both hardware and software and embedded systems and stuff like that.
I'm sure I'll get it done, eventually. Even though it's been twelve years and I still haven't even accomplished a two-year degree.
TinSoldier posted on May 22, 2008
| views: 199
Comments
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D6fer said on May 22, 2008....
Good for you Tin....I hope you achieve it!.....sounds like you were a lot like me in school.....ace the tests to pull a "c" ;)
I've thought about going to trade school for instrumentation......they are in high demand, and it pays pretty darn well....but who knows.....I am actually kicking around the idea of another biz.
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TinSoldier said on May 22, 2008....
Thanks, D6.
One of my biggest feelings of disappointment and resentment has been the fact that I never really got good advisement, either in high school or in the college that I've taken so far.
Starting businesses sounds cool, I'm just not sure I have the energy or temperament to do so.
Heh, if I ran my own business it would be a book and game store.
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D6fer said on May 23, 2008....
got to follow them dreams someday! -
moonriver said on May 23, 2008....
tin -- i realized for the first time, from reading your blog, that you and i have really really lots in common. lol.
i'm still debating with myself whether to pursue my original engineering course (and shift from chemical to computer... not a big leap, actually), or pursue my original scientific love, biology, or finish where i hold my strongest cards, either in anthropology, journalism or linguistics. i have one year to decide, but i need to start very soon ... :-)
good luck, and go grab your dreams, man. seize the hour, seize the day.
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silverwhisper said on May 23, 2008....
you're a very smart guy, TS--your political inclinations notwithstanding of course... :D
so yes, you can study anything you want and i'm sure you'll be good at it. i can see you being a code monkey, actually, but perhaps you'd do well also to pursue an informal education by finding a site that caters to people who do that for a living? that way, you might be able to see some practical upside?
ed -
TinSoldier said on May 23, 2008....
moon -- heh, much in common, eh? That is a very nice compliment.
So many varied interests you have, they make you sound like a true renaissance man.
When I was a kid all I ever wanted to be was a "scientist". Of course, I didn't realize that the kind of scientist I actually wanted to be was an engineer. I thought that engineers drove trains!
I was that kid who always took stuff apart to see how it worked, regardless of whether he could make it work again. And in some ways, I still am that kid
ed -- well, not just a code monkey. I still want to work with hardware, too.
I'm not sure what you mean by the informal education bit. I guess I'll have to look. But to this point, self-study has only taken me so far.
I guess I need that extra kick in the pants.
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silverwhisper said on May 23, 2008....
i was referring to the kind of learning-by-osmosis that would come of talking w/ guy who do this for a living. :> but i'm also glad that you'd be interested in working with hardware. :>
ed -
bloc said on May 23, 2008....
I could probably write a book on this subject but I have to get back to work so I'll leave you with the most important piece of info. I worked my way through college and it took me 8 1/2 years. If your goal is to get a degree then make sure the classes you take at CC transfer. In CA we have a program for all CCs where their curriculum is guaranteed to count for your entire general ed requirement for any state university. Check if Oregon has something similar and stick to that if it does.You also know that I'm a programmer and a manager of programmers, but all of my experience is in web dev. I don't know if this holds true in other areas, but in web dev it's extremely hard to hire decent programmers (demand is higher than supply). This makes it easy to get your career started well before you finish school, which I was able to do after the dot com bust! A good way to do this is to make something in your free time (or contribute to an open source project) and take a salary that is a little under the average.Ok, I have to get back to work but feel free to pm me if you have any questions about CS degrees or CS in general. Btw, I don't know any C++ ;) -
diabolicdame said on May 23, 2008....
That is a great decision and I wish all the luck in pursuing it! I also started my degree in computer science engineering but have now shifted to bio-informatics engineering because it combines my two loves of computers and biology. I hope you have some fun getting your degree too! :-) -
skald said on May 23, 2008....
That is great. Good luck to you and good for you. -
Alyss said on May 23, 2008....
TS I think this is a great idea and applaud you for going for it. -
Expendable said on May 23, 2008....
Didn't anyone tell you about online courses? I know the army has internet, otherwise they wouldn't try to stop soldiers from blogging. Check out eArmyU - or can't National Guard do this?Study hard, TS. ^_^ -
secretlife said on May 23, 2008....
bloc's advice is what i was going to post here- about checking with oregon state to see what you've already got under your belt would be transferable before you just continue to take classes that might not even transfer.i also work in information technology as a system's analyst in telcom for the past 24 years. lots of c++ used in our apps still- and we hire contractors all the time.i say go for it!!! -
crybabylu said on May 25, 2008....
Way to go! Just don't let them indoctrinate you as you study! -
TinSoldier said on May 27, 2008....
Hi, everyone! Sorry I took so long to answer but I had a wonderful holiday weekend away from the computer.
Still missed everyone though!
bloc -- Thanks for the advice, I always keep you in mind. I just haven't really had any questions enough to ask you about.
I tell you, I know next to nothing about web development. I mean, I've written a simple javascript app (a few tens of lines) and I looked into php, but at the end of the day I know next to nothing about databases and advanced networking and stuff like that.
My real thrust is still towards embedded systems (since I'm still a hardware guy at heart), though, but I guess I should keep that other stuff in mind.
Oh, and my options for college are very limited (basically one CC and one university [Portland State University]). I need to double check, but I'm sure I already looked into my first two years being transferable within the state of Oregon University system.
It's not like I'm applying to an out-of-state or private school or anything.
diabolicdame, skald, and Alyss -- thanks for the well wishes!
Expendable -- I'm not in the Guard anymore, but I never had much luck doing the Army's online coursework. Back when I was in the Marine Corps you just went to see your Company Gunny and ordered a correspondence course and they would send you the books, you would study and take the test, send it in, and get your completion certificate. They were worth promotion points, too!
But while I always found good Army info online to do my job, I could never figure out their education systems.
secretlife -- thanks for the advice! I hope that my career and education aspirations keep me in developing new widgets for people. That's what I really want to do (I think). I don't want to be the next drone at Microsoft (although I guess I wouldn't turn it down if it was offered!)
crybabylu -- Heh, So far so good!
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TinSoldier said on May 27, 2008....
Now the bad news: I need to contact an adviser.
They want me to take writing and mathematics placement tests -- something that I have done far too many fricken' times already. Now, they do say that if I contact an adviser I may not have to do that since I already have several college credits.
So, the class I want starts on the 23rd. I guess I need to talk to an adviser. I haven't had much luck with advisers in the past. Wish me luck.
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bloc said on May 27, 2008....
I had the same issue and they let me start in the math class I wanted to start in. Hopefully your school is as reasonable. -
TinSoldier said on May 27, 2008....
Well, considering that I've taken College Algebra, Geometry, Calculus I, and Calculus II at this same school, they better be reasonable about it!!
And I've taken (and received As in) writing 121, 122, and 123. Now, for the degree I want to go for I may need to take technical writing as well.
With regards to my maths, I got As in all but Calc II where I got a C because it's hard. I may need to refresh my calc stuff, but I've still got the books.
The problem is that schools think that writing and math skills deteriorate over time, and therefore you have to retake them. Unfortunately, the GI Bill doesn't pay for classes that you have to repeat.
I think it will only become a problem once I get back to my Physics courses. And furthering my math education (since I do need more math courses). And then my electronics courses. Oh, and it will be a problem once I'm close to actually graduating, too.
But I plan on taking the computer courses first, just to get back into the swing of things.
Thanks, though. I appreciate the help and comments. Your opinion on this is very important to me.
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