Yeah, i can’t believe i’m in school either. So, in case anyone was interested, here’s my educational journey.

I was one of the “smart kids” growing up. School was easy. Until it wasn’t, starting in middle school. As soon as i found a subject that was boring or challenging i quit trying. I did really horribly in high school for numerous reasons. Didn’t plan on going to college immediately. I eventually went on a church mission to Argentina for two years. I was motivated to start my education after i got home. But it took a while for me finally get started. So a couple years passed and i believe at 25 i started taking classes at the community college. After doing that for a couple years i applied to NC State University.

My original goal was to major in business. I thought that was practical, so i looked up the requirements and i needed to pass calculus in order to be accepted. So i took calculus. And i didn’t pass. So i took it again. And i didn’t pass. Not because i couldn’t do calculus. But because i quit going to class.

So instead i majored in Political Science. And i passed calculus at NC State with an A+. I think i just needed a change in environment. By that point i was already accepted in the Political Science program and didn’t try to get into the business program so i just stuck with it. That was kind of a mistake.

Oh, i should probably go back for a minute. NC State is a school known for engineering and perhaps some computer science stuff. I’ve always been pretty good with math (when i go to class) and actually enjoy certain aspects of it. But i was scared to do something like engineering or computer science because i was scared of all the math. Okay, back to political science.

I enjoyed learning lots of different things about politics and our government. I found some of it really interesting and informative and was able to study certain things during the election of 2008. That was pretty cool. I didn’t, however, enjoy the type of work. I struggle with reading boring stuff (which you might too…meaning you probably aren’t going to get this far if you do) and a lot of the stuff i had to study i found very boring.

That made political science tough for me to get through. But i managed to get a BA in political science with a minor in business management or something like that. That minor was useless. It only served to show i understood the basic concepts of business and accounting. But that didn’t help me get a job. At the beginning of 2011 the job market was tough. I applied for a job in Utah where my sister lives and ended up getting hired with the state government.

Fast forward about seven and a half years, and my income isn’t growing as fast as i would like and i feel broke all the time. I decide that i’m going to enroll at the community college here and study computer science. And subject myself to a bunch of hard classes and lots of math. And i’m about two semesters away from getting an associates degree and potentially getting another bachelors degree, this time in computer science.

So the moral of the story is: don’t be afraid to try hard things. Don’t think you can’t do it. I mean, maybe you can’t, but if you don’t try you’ll be like pushing 40, going back to school to try to change careers (or actually gain a career) while already working full time with a wife who wants to spend time with you when you just don’t have much time to do anything! So don’t be like me. Or do be like me. Either way, i guess never give up on your dreams (or your dream salary).