Cloud Computing

After finding his career interest, his initiative to develop a course to teach his co-workers about emerging technology earned their respect and for him, a promotion to a more secure employment position.

FAMILY BACKGROUND

DD’s father owned a health insurance claim processing company, working from his office to service universities and small businesses. DD’s mother worked for a local township office as an administrator. 

CHILDHOOD THOUGHTS OF AN ADULT CAREER

DD enjoyed playing with electronics as a child, ranging from video games to computers. So early on, he was comfortable with electronics while noting that new developments in technology continued to emerge. DD also loved animals and wanted to help them but realized being a veterinarian would involve sometimes cutting into animals to provide treatment, so he never pursued that potential career path. 

HIGH SCHOOL DAYS

Always a fan of movies, DD was interested in becoming a film director. A nearby high school offered a television production class, so in his senior year, DD was granted permission to drive himself to the other high school to attend that unique class. (Later his own high school offered that same class.) Before he graduated, DD wrote and directed his own film, starring DD’s friend (sadly, no ‘movie star’ career resulted for his friend!). DD’s film was the equivalent of a final high school thesis, which was an achievement not sought or earned by most of his classmates.

COLLEGE DAYS

DD enrolled in a college which offered a concentration (“major”) in film production. He also took several computer science courses toward qualifying that special area as a “minor” until taking a class in “software coding” when DD realized that his interest in computer science was not at that “granular” level, so he switched to a minor involving photography as more relevant to his interest in film and related lighting. 

CAREER CHALLENGE – LOSING CONFIDENCE IN ABILITY TO ACHIEVE ACADEMICALLY

Mid-way through college, DD became distracted by wondering whether he was a good enough student to graduate and if he did, could he be successful in any career? DD became more focused on his self-assessed inabilities than his potential abilities and decided to withdraw from college, hopefully not forever but with no certain plan to return. 

Editor’s note: It is not unusual for students, leaving home for the first time, to question their ability to succeed as a college student and wonder if they could succeed later in the world of employment. When such thoughts dominate the student’s thinking, they should seek professional counseling either within the school’s health service or from an outside specialist. Or perhaps mere removal from the stress of college studies by working somewhere 9-5 would provide the opportunity to find reassurance of positive abilities. Deciding to drop out of school to deal with turning negative thoughts into positive thoughts is a reasonable option, while preserving the possibility of returning to college to pursue a college degree.

TAKING TIME TO REBUILD CONFIDENCE

Away from the pressure of academic studies, DD realized that he needed to get a job to pay for his student loans. Without a college degree, DD thought his best chance to find a job was through a staffing firm which placed workers in temporary jobs. His first job was with a patio sales company, where his duties ranged from data entry to cleaning the facility, pulling boxes from warehouse shelves, organizing, and delivering them to customers. The business owner knew that DD had completed some college courses, so he suggested that rather than doing just manual labor, that DD work in their office as a sales assistant, selling cable equipment. DD found that he could be a successful salesman so he thought his career opportunities would be improved by completing his college degree, a renewed journey which he began by enrolling in just one course at his former university. This academic experiment was successful, so he decided to enroll in a full load of courses, did well in all of them and achieved his college degree. 

FIRST JOB AS COLLEGE GRADUATE EARNS EXPERIENCE BUT IS NEVER A BINDING CAREER COMMITMENT

DD was welcomed back by his most recent employer, this time equipped with both sales experience and a college degree, so he was rehired as a salesman. He performed well and his comfort with technology was noted by management, which offered to move DD into the engineering side of the cable company, specifically to deal with televisions. His new duties involved configuring all the electronics sold and on-site installations. DD enjoyed his daily work but looking ahead, perceived no opportunity to continue growing his interest in technology within this company’s business model. 

TAKING A RISK

A family member knew of DD’s interest in looking to find an interesting career with the opportunity to continue learning as its business evolved. A tech support role was posted from a well-known company involved with financial management. DD’s college courses had not focused on business, but he was confident in his ability to learn the nuances of any technology involved so he applied and accepted the job offer despite a 50% pay decrease from his recent sales position since he had no children to support, and he saw the opportunity for future career advancement. 

SUCCESS IN JOBS WITH DIFFICULT HOURS LED TO PROMOTION WITH BETTER HOURS

The entry level tech support duties involved dealing with clients on the phone who needed assistance with the company’s website; these were usually elderly people trying to work with their on-line accounts. DD mastered these duties and then sought a promotion within the same department to free himself from having to be on the phone all day. His promotion got him off the phones, into an IT tech position where his duties included being on call every two months for nights and weekends, to facilitate technology resolutions. DD’s work ethic then led to his appointment as an administrator, managing workflow, a side benefit of which removed him from weekend and evening on-call responsibilities. 

ALWAYS LEARNING ADDS TO KNOWLEDGE AND RESUME

DD noted an opportunity to participate in an internship for a new technology application, relevant to what he was currently doing. DD was accepted for the internship, which when completed, provided the opportunity to continue within the IT department but with greater responsibilities, including project management involving power point presentations for approval of IT budgets. 

CAREER OPTIMISM NOT DETERRED BY FAILURE TO QUALIFY FOR ONE PROJECT

DD’s experience seemed a good fit to work within the IT department on a robotic development project. He applied but because he had no formal IT degree, he was rejected. DD was disappointed but not deterred from applying to get involved with another new project involving a search engine to support the company’s website; the project manager was impressed that DD was eager to learn about the search engine project and noted that anyone coming aboard the project would have to learn about it so “it might as well be you!”

INITIATIVE TO EDUCATE CO-WORKERS LEADS TO PROMOTION

After three years’ involvement with the search engine project, DD was promoted to a position involving high level, technology development. He then decided to achieve certification for Amazon Website Services. The course was difficult, but DD achieved his certification. Others within his department wanted to achieve the same certification so solely as his own idea, DD developed a study curriculum, which his co-workers acknowledged was a great benefit to their success in achieving their certifications. The respect DD had achieved from his co-workers confirmed his ability to succeed within his range of technology so he decided to pursue a formal degree in IT at a university which offered courses in ‘cloud computing’ toward earning a Master’s Degree, involving one course a semester so that DD could continue to balance his priorities as a father, husband and full time, upper level technology specialist for a major corporation. 

CAREER SATISFACTION

DD is justifiably proud that his career path started with determination to return to college to achieve his degree, then wound through employment experiences which self-proved his ability to learn complex technology. At the same time, DD earned the respect of his managers and co-workers, for his initiative to help them improve their knowledge, while concurrently improving his job security within a career with continuing growth potential.