I am a single parent and I promised myself that after I had bought my house, I would go back to school and finish my degree. When you have so many responsibilities, they can easily get in your way of pursuing your dreams and what really matters to you. One of my biggest dreams is to increase my technical skill sets and to add even more value to the company and continue to satisfy our customers.
I first enrolled in college in the Fall of 2017 and, I’ll admit, I was overly ambitious. I did not do so well in that first semester and it set me back. As I continued, I learned to be more realistic and treat this as a marathon and not a sprint. This has been a staggered process and I have only been attending Fall and Spring Semesters. I am currently enrolled in the University of Maryland University College (UMUC) taking online courses outside of work hours. My current field of study is Information Systems Management.
The DOD government agency that we support has a foundation of signals analysis, cyber security, data science, and more IT areas of expertise. I believe that continuing to pursue my degree will not only add more value for the customer but it will also greatly benefit Nyla and me with increased levels of knowledge-based expertise. Applying what I have learned from UMUC will give me new insight that will both improve the dynamics of the customer’s mission and allow me to adapt and evolve with the new business strategies that both Nyla and the customer will be able to implement as technology advances.
Once I complete the Spring Semester, I should have 96 credit hours towards my degree. I also plan to participate in the College Level Examination Program (CLEP) which would allow me to test out of courses that may not be necessary to attend for a full semester. This test offered by UMUC will allow me to reach my goal of completing my degree program even sooner.
UMUC is an accredited online college, backed by the University of Maryland Campus, which specializes in aiding working adults to get their degree even while juggling their work-life responsibilities. They are also supported by professors who are concurrently working in their field of expertise which allows them to provide real life experiences and strategies currently being used in the workforce today. UMUC will also leverage any current certifications you may already possess along with your actual work experience and convert it into credit hours towards your degree to assist with completing the degree program sooner. Information about UMUC and what it has to offer prospective students can be found at https://www.umuc.edu/.
