I graduated from UW-Oshkosh with a Bachelor of Science in Sociology and a minor in Political Science. My career goal was to earn a Masters in Social Work and become a child therapist . After graduating college, I searched for jobs that were relevant to my future career. I served one year as an Americorps VISTA at Milwaukee Public Schools' Central Office; there I worked closely with school social workers, administrators, and parents. My next job was at a residential treatment center for children who were dually diagnosed with emotional disturbances and developmental disabilities. There I worked as a youth counselor, I was able to participate in meetings with social workers, occupational therapists and psychiatrists. After being punched, kicked and bit too many times to count, I decided it was time I move on. The job left me not only physically scarred but mentally scarred as well; I started second guessing if child therapy was really something I could handle. Lastly, I served another Americorps term this time at a youth homeless and runaway shelter called Walker's Point Youth and Family Center. I loved the experience that the job gave me, but after working there, I knew emotionally I would burn out in the career I wanted to pursue. I saw so many things I wished I could have changed or controlled and that wasn't always possible, which on occasion left me with a feeling of hopelessness and extreme pessimism.
After determining that a Masters in Social Work was not the path for me I scrapped my applications and letters of recommendation and hit the drawing board. I researched careers for months looking for the perfect one. The medical field stood out to me, I had always loved science. My mother's side of the family consists of many healthcare professionals and my brother had just become a nurse; I felt as though I'd follow that path. I enrolled at a local four year college and began taking health science classes. I loved my classes, I did extremely well in anatomy and physiology. In theory this seemed like the perfect path for me however, after speaking with those in two of the fields I had been debating between I decided maybe it wasn't for me.
After a year of taking classes I went back to the drawing board. My father suggested I do something with computers. I was always on them, I was the one my family called if they were having issue or had tech questions, and I loved trouble shooting. I decided I'd give it a shot and took an introductory computer class at the college I was attending. I absolutely loved it! The next step was to find a degree program, the college had a Bachelors of Business degree with a major in Information Technology Management. After going over the credits that had transferred I realized it would still take me three and a half years to complete the program because I had to take the general business classes such as accounting, economics, finance, business law etc. I understood the importance of having a well rounded education but I had just spent five years as an undergrad and I did not want to spend three and a half more taking classes that didn't directly apply to the career field I wanted to pursue. That's when I discovered MATC.
MATC offered specialized degree programs without a large number of filler classes. Not only could I receive my associates degree in two years but one year's worth of classes was equal in price to one semester at the four year college I had been attending. After further research I discovered that if I received an associates degree in the IT field, because I already have a bachelors degree, I can apply to a number of Masters programs in the future. There was no question after that, MATC was the college for me. The next thing I needed to decide was which program to enroll in. I researched the jobs by looking at pay, availability, job descriptions and informative Youtube videos. I also talked with my uncle who is a PC LAN Analyst at Wells Fargo, he was able to provide a lot of insight. After taking all of the information into account I decided on the Network Specialist Program, because I wanted more hands on work.
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