It use to be that if you made good grades in school and went to college that a good job would be waiting for you. I’ve been thinking about how people have less opportunities today even with a college educations. So, I thought I would tell my story and maybe inspire some people to take a look at their choices rather than racking up school debts for something that my not payoff in the end.
When I was in first grade I was diagnosed with ADD and dyslexia. I spent most of my time in grade school in special ED classes just to pass. (English was not my strong suit.) I was pretty good at math and science but any subject that I had to use reading comprehension was just ugly. I made it through school because my Mom and Dad spent time and money to just barely get me through each grade. If I had not played football in High School I would have quit school when I was sixteen. To make things worse I was actually OK at football and had colleges look at me, but I could not pass the exit exam for reading comprehension portion. So, at the the end of my twelfth grade year I did not graduate, but I did study for the GED exam an pass the exam four month later.
At that time I thought I would go to a junior college and then take a shot at walking on at mid-tier college football team. Great idea huh! No, I flunked out the first semester. At this point I took several jobs: Plummer, Electrician, retail, etc… After all of those jobs I still did not fill like I was doing what I wanted to do. I had no vision for my life and no plan it was hopeless.
One day my cousin asked me to go to a church in Adamsville, Alabama by the name of Victory Christian Fellowship (vcflive.org) and I met my pastor Dr. Jim McCann III. The message that was conveyed their was that you can live a life of an overcomer. The scriptures that I most gravitated toward was Phil 4:19 “I can do all things through Christ that strengths me.” And Proverbs 29:18 “Without a vision the people perish.”
After realizing that if I had a vision for my life that I could do all thing through Christ. I began the journey that led me here.
I am currently working as a Cyber Security Engineer for a large Power Company in the South east United States. I am 33 years old and over the last ten years of my life I have pursued college and received a B.S. in Information Systems Management from Western Governors University and will have a M.S. in Engineering from University of Alabama at Birmingham in the next 5 months (Cross your fingers for me. 
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The funny thing is that I did not get the job I have because of my college education. I have had the job I have for the last 10 years. I did not get my Bachelors degree until two years ago(It took me seven years to receive my B.S. I guess I am still slow! ). I have benefited from several things:
- I gained a vision that I wanted to have a job in technology (Prayer, talking with mentors, etc…)
- I networked with people that had those type of jobs
- I studied technology (I took night classes on specific technologies that I could get certificates. Resume’ building.)
- I took minimum wage jobs pulling wire and setting up servers. Sometimes I worked at night for no pay just to work on certain technologies.
- I built knowledge and my resume then I would move to bigger and better jobs.
I will continue to build on this over time, but for now I will let this sink in and will expound on this later.
Dustin
