On Career Changes

There's one small problem with getting out of IT.  I have to go back to school.  However, that requires money and time.  Given the current situation of the US economy, the fact that I have a job is a blessing, as onerous as it may be.  The only option, then, for getting the education I need to do what I really want is to somehow leverage my IT experience for personal gain.

In so many words: I need an IT job at a University.

Most universities now offer classes to staff.  Call it a perk for not paying people as much as their non-university counterparts.  Basically, I won't have to deal with that whole bullshit of actually applying to get into the school.  It may seem somewhat underhanded, but it would greatly aid me in my quest to get a Ph.D.  That's right, I want to be a History Professor.

Why?  'Cause it's awesome, that's why.

"Wait," I can hear you asking, "History?  IT?  What the f***?"

It's ok.  It took me by surprise as well.  During undergrad, I needed a job.  One of the few that I was qualified for, that didn't require work-study, was a job in the UMaine IT department.  I got the job because I knew the older Mac operating system (OS 9 and such).  After about a year, the boss we had went to a position at another university, and the new boss required that everyone who worked in IT had to at least support Windows machines, since they were the most common computers on campus.  Basically, it was crap.

Adding to this joyous craptastic situation was that, despite having 75 IT staff, only about 15 of us actually did any real work.  Most of them were foriegn students who really didn't speak English.  15 people, supporting 10,000 students?  Yeah, that sucked.  I promised myself that I would never get a job working for IT professionally.  Yeah...

My father gave me the following advice before I went to college.  It was passed down to him by his father.  "Go to college to study what you want to learn about.  Let whatever job you get provide you with job training."  If I am not a living embodyment of that, I don't know who is.  Anyway, what I really wanted to learn, what I was passionate about, was History.  I started in US History, but by Junior year, I was tired of it.  I took some ancient Greek and Roman history classes, and they were better (I also decided I wanted to learn Ancient Greek and Latin for my languages.  Turns out, they didn't count towards my degree).  However, I then found a class that I absolutely loved.

Medieval History.  Oh man, Medieval History is so completely awesome.  I quickly found myself enthralled.  Despite what a lot of people think, it wasn't all castles, knights, and princesses.  Kings and vassals vying for power... well, that part is true.  At times, it appears most people equate the Dark Ages and Medieval Europe with the Arthurian Legend and Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

The truth is, Medieval history is a lot more varied and complex.  It is a lot more interesting than Renaissance history.  Truth be told, many universities are now getting away from a Renaissance historian who knows a little about the Middle Ages (from the latin Medium Aevum, "the Middle Age") to having a Medieval Historian who can teach about the Renaissance.  Which is as it should be, because there were at least two renaissance periods in the Middle Ages (the first was when the teachings of Aristotle came back into Europe, and the second was when the teachings of Plato and Socrates arrived).

My true passions lie with History and Writing.  Unfortunately, those two fields are not the easiest of career paths to follow.  They take a lot of hard work and dedication.  I'm at the point, now, where I definitely want to try and follow one of those dream jobs.  I just need to knuckle down and do it.