But before I go...

I learned a few things over the course of the last eight weeks that go a bit beyond communications and collegiate at 30. I learned to come to terms with a few quirks, to really find the reasons behind my delayed graduation. To answer hard questions about myself and use those answers to help me drive my way forward. Don't worry this won't be a wishy washy post about self discovery.

I've been diagnosed more than once with ADHD but i've never done anything about it. Frankly, I was too immature and proud to think that I needed to do anything about it. In hindsight and with honest observation from a professional i can see how i've basically maneuvered myself all my adult life to follow paths that worked well with my shorter attention span and need to find more stimuli. I moved into positions that encouraged frequent interaction with people, had rotating goals, and gave me control of my schedule. I was thankfully able to find a good niche and found success in it. There is problem in success sometimes.

I figured that since i was able to be successful in that environment i didn't need to address any issues with ADD. Being unemployed, as i've addressed in this blog a few times, changes things. I thought i'd just focus on school, it would be a piece of cake. But my cake never really included focus in the ingredients list.

I had too much time, too little stimulis and I easily lost track. Here are some sites i've used to define my next steps and try to improve myself along the way:

www.totallyadd.com- a site based on a documentary called ADD and Loving it. It helped me see what i had to address without letting me wallow in self deprecation and stress.

www.teamtreehouse.com- in order to keep my creative juices running while learning something new. I realized i enjoyed being creative and could pursue a career that gave me flexibility i would need to be successful while still experiencing new challenges regularly.

masscis.intocarreers.org- helped keep me focus on my new path for education and a career. I would normally find myself switching from idea to idea but after going through the evaluation on the site I was validated in my choice. It helped me lock down on a career and education path that worked to my needs and desires and proved to be a growing field.

Well, dear reader, I suppose this is farewell. Tomorrow I graduate and move on the phase two of my reinvention. I will not be actively adding to this blog but I will keep it open and active. Shoot me an email if you have any questions or just want to chat. I'm also on Twitter @msantiago508

So, you're back in the learning game...

I've had to learn a few things besides my standard course work over the course of this semester. For beginners, the word "laid off" always sounded like a compound word to me but is actually both words separately. I also learned that it is simply a euphemism with little of interest in its etymology. The rest of what i learned was slightly more complicated.

Better off working

If someone would have told me 6 months ago that I could simply avoid dreading monday mornings and get paid 60% of my income to study full time I would have said count me in. To be completely honest, there where times I secretly hoped to be amongst the 30 thousand planned layoffs at my company.
You know the saying though, "be careful what you...". I'm not complaining too much though, at least I'm in school and have the next year or so planned out with school.

I've been working in some form or another since i was 14 years old. I don't sleep in and I constantly crave movement and purpose. That and the fact that I haven't been a full time student since I was 17 years old led me to feel like a hamster on caffeine on a blocky tread-mill. I would start projects up around the house, making myself useful but i just couldn't get traction.

Even in school, after receiving encouragement from my professors I found it hard to settle into a routine around my school work.I thought to myself that i'd rather take a deeper pay cut to take a low paying job and have something to do rather than stay home on unemployment.

Stay busy, find yourself

When I was still working I had plans for how the next year of schooling would go. I would graduate from WSU, finally completing my bachelors degree. With that personal milestone behind me I would finally pursue my own interests.
I'm a technology geek and have always been so. It's almost a joke that I'm thirty one and haven't worked with tech since I was in my teens. Even when I worked in wealth management, I tended to be the go-to-guy for tech questions (those IT guys can be a bit off-putting).So, now i'm home trying to get this "student" thing down again and i'm deciding how i want to go about my second degree project.

Originally it was quiet simple. I selected a decent looking program that allowed me to work full time and achieve a tech oriented second degree. It would get me moving in the right direction while compromising the extent to which i could move into that field. It was like a  watered down bachelors in IT.

This is the point where you start to ask the harder questions. What do you want? No, really, what do YOU  want to do with your life?
Who do you want to be? How do you want to feel on sunday evening? Understanding that work is exactly that, work, what does your dream job look like?

I googled, I spoke with neighbors and acquaintances in various fields. I spent time really trying to decide what I wanted to do. Then I figured out how to get there.

I'm graduating in 5 days and I will be starting at Umass Lowell one week after that. I'm going to be moving forward, full steam ahead and I wont stop until I'm who I want to be doing what I want to do.

Things Change... Thats why I'm back in school.

So a funny thing happened on my way to getting to where I wanted to be in life. When I wrote my first post for this Blogg I was gainfully employed and wrapping up my bachelors degree (finally) at 30. Well along the way, life did what it does so well and threw a good o'l curve ball. I am now unemployed.

But don't mistake my current assessment of my state as despondent ranting. No sir (or madam), this is not self pity, it is my opportunity to share my experience thus far. I am genuinely turning a negative into a positive. I'm finding that proverbial silver lining.

First things addressed where my classes and how much time I had to address some of them. I was able to turn one of my independent studies into actual class time. Dear reader, if you have ever wondered if there is still value left doing in-class time let me assure you there is. It might be easy to fall back on the convenience of online learning. The complete openness of many syllabi given out by professors that rely on your own desire to complete the course successfully. The reason for that may simply be because of the attention that needs to spent on students sitting in classrooms.

I am thankful that I was able to convert half my courses into traditional sit downs. It simply has given me more context for the materials being learned. And i've found all of my professors at WSU to be both sympathetic and encouraging to my newly acquired freedom from worker bee life.

While going through the process of unemployment insurance I also learned something important. Something that will change the course of my life, and I am not exaggerating. Section 30.

Did you know that if you are laid off and desire to truly engage in bettering your chances at future success the state will assist you? Basically a section 30 removes the stress of seeking for work in liue of perusing some valid training or education. They are letting me finish school and make myself marketable again!

Having gone through two layoffs in the same sector i couldn't have prayed for a better opportunity to avoid this self deprecating experience again. Besides finally finishing my first degree at WSU, i have enrolled in a second degree program at UMass Lowell to attain a second bachelors in Database administration in IT. I will hopefully be prepared for a market that has more work than qualified people to fill it.

One thing I can't stress enough to those of you still in school is simply to finish. Finish while you can, don't chase the quick dollar, unless you're in dire circumstances. Even then, my wife managed to finish her degree in five years while working full time. Stay focused and be prepared to keep learning beyond your first four years. It's a tough world out here but with the support of experienced faculty willing to back you up you can get by just fine.

I know I will.

Hey, You're Here!

Hello reader and welcome to my blog! Follow along as I introduce you to who I am, what I do and why I blog. Before we go any further allow me to get some housekeeping out of the way. Here are some pertinent facts about me andSantiagos WSU Blog:

• I am a 30 Bank Manager by day. Student, business owner, and Blogger/Twitter(er?) by night.
• I’m (finally) wrapping up my final semester at WSU. For context, when I began my studies it used to go by the letters WSC and the admin building had just been prepped for a remodel.
• I am happily married (going on seven years) and have two cats and a dog.We all love to travel together (minus cats dog).
• I love blogging!

The rest of this post will delve into life as a student at WSU, while later ones will touch on other aspects of my life mentioned above.

Worcester State University

There are some real advantages to having a respected state university practically in my backyard. And since it’s taken me this long to finish I’ve been able to see some impressive changes with the school, its programs and the campus.

What makes WSU special is the quality you get as a student for the price you pay. Over the past few years I spent time taking classes at various institutions other than WSU and not once did I feel that I was getting more for the premium pricing.

The campus is pretty, in an understated kind of way. The majority of the buildings have been refurbished and modernized, leaving the student learning center (library building) as the only place in need of some asthetic TLC. The grounds themselves are nicely appointed with well-maintained front lawn and an interior pond and fountainhead.

Me at WSU

It’s been an interesting ride for me at WSU. To begin with, I’ve never been a traditional student. I never played sports or participated in any clubs. Instead I worked full time and took classes when I could. Overall, though, it was a good experience. As I grew and experienced the “real world” I found myself re-evaluating what I wanted to do long term, eventually leading met to change my major more than once. If I had any advice to give a young student it would be to spend that first year trying as much as possible or take more time up front to define yourself a bit better. Because of the frequent changes in major I’m at a point where I have nearly 140 credits of which several thousand dollars worth will do me no good for my degree. That being said, I don’t completely regret those experiences as I have had good luck with the professors at this school. I can honestly say that I gained some real insight after each and every class I ever took at WSU.

I suppose it’s time I address the real reason it took me this long to finish. Well, as I mentioned above, I spent most of my time right after High school working in various fields. At an early age I found I had a knack jobs that required high level of interpersonal skills. Through a progression of opportunities within the banking field I eventually wound up as a Wealth Management Officer for Bank of America. I was only 24 and the youngest member of my market by a long shot. I was also the only one with no degree. I continued to whittle away at my degree, at that point sticking with communications because of the broad appeal it had. I guess that’s when hubris began to rear its ugly head. I was making more money that I really thought I’d be making so early in my life, I was married to a girl way out of my league (she still is, seven years later), and I had just purchased a great little house high on a hill in city’s best neighborhood. So, naturally, I began to make work my firs priority, my wife second, my home third, and tv fourth. That left no room for school and I quickly realized I was loosing interest. I didn’t so much asdropout, per se, I simply stopped going, while still enrolled.

I’m not proud of how that worked out and I’m obviously back in school, finally ready to finish. But the story of how I got from that point to where I am now will have to wait for another post on another day. Thanks for reading.