Shall I go back to school?
Image Source: medium.comI have a dilemma!
As most of you know by now, I have been made redundant and I am re-orienting my future. I have been looking into doing a course for adults in IT and last Friday I had a chat at a school not far from Zürich. There I was told that I would not be accepted into this 'Adults' course as I lack the basic education and I can't show that I have sufficient working experience in this area. Which I am alright with.
We then started looking into the possibility of doing an official 3 year education into programming. There are several benefits for me in doing this course:
- At the end you get an Official diploma vs a certificate from the school saying you did said course
- The future perspectives in this branch are much better compared to tourism
- Salaries are much higher, in this branch a 25 year old would earn what I earn now
- There is a high demand for programmers and it's even being pushed by the government
- This education is half the price of the other course
Image Source: stevenshenager.eduThese are all strong points in favor of doing this education, but then there's the negatives or dilemma's I'm struggling with. I know some of them are a bit silly, but they still add up on the negative side of the scales:
- It's 3 years of studying, will I be able to persevere?
- I'll have to attend school 1 day a week, instead of being able to work that day
- Besides the 1 week-day, I'll also have to go to school on Saturday mornings and have an average of 4-6 hours of homework a week - remember I also have a family that require my attention
- I am afraid of mathematics, in school I was never a star in the theory and I had a glance in one of the theory books and my heart literally skipped 5 seconds
- Besides all this I have a family to provide for, how will I do that whilst doing an education?
- The average age in the class will be 25, almost 15 years more than I am ...
- From the 4th semester I will need a job in this area, I have the fear that I won't find one
- Last but not least, I don't have a job at the moment, how can I sell this to a possible future employer?
The positives actually outweigh the negatives and my wife supports me in doing this, but that does not take away from the fact that I have these fears going through my head. Especially points 1, 4 and 8 are bothering me. So I was wondering if anyone had any advice on how I can overcome these fears.
I've spoken with some people about this before and I know that this is the right thing to do, but if I fail a subject, then it might be all wasted time, money and efforts if I can't make it to the next semester. So even if you don't have any experience with this particular education, how do you handle that fear and how do you persevere into seeing something through to the end?
Any advice is more than welcome at this moment to put my mind at ease a bit!
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Keep running and stay fit!
Doron 🐺
1 Time flies and three years is fast
4 There is not a lot of mathematics in computing, but logic and modeling (it's maths ;)
8 Ask and it will be given to you. These are your hiring requirements.
You have the support of your family, go ahead.
I also asked myself to go back to school a few years ago and I regret I did not do it. Now it would be done.
I did a 1 year course at University after I had my two kids. It is SUCH a different experience studying as an adult compared to when you're straight out of school. What I found was that I WANTED to learn, whereas in my twenties all I wanted to do was going to the pub and fart around (which is just about all I did in my younger Uni years). Also, I found studying surprisingly easy; I was older, came in with a lot of life experience, that perhaps doesn't seem relevant to the course, but it made studying easier all the same. I also found it was much easier to set aside the required time to study, both because the course was on a subject that intrigued me, but also because adulthood had made me more structured and conscientious.
I think that if you would have liked to do the course without being in your present situation of being made redundant, you should go for it. That would mean you have the drive and the interest to complete it, and probably complete it well. But if it's something you would do because you feel you have to, perhaps you need to see if there are other venues to explore. Good luck with your decision. :)
Thank you for your advice, that actually helps a lot! I want to do the course regardless of the situation as I was looking into it before this all started, but your advice has helped me a lot and I feel more positive about all this now. Thanks!
No worries 😁
perfect ,,, i am happy with successful people like you !!! thanks.
Hey Doron great initiative. First of all I think this 3 yr programme will be a good start especially if you feel wholeheartedly its something you want to do. Notably, programmers are in high demand and are well paid. You are helping converge supply and demand :)
Regarding
Well here I think that you'll probably find hard subjects and perhaps boring, but I would persevere mainly for having paid for it, but also for a personal conviction of finishing what I have started.
Bests
Thank you for your advice and motivational words. The fact that programmers are in demand really helps me to make this a great argument to persevere.
Good job, greetings!
Your reasons listed as negatives are all challenges we face in life, sooner or later. A time will come when the sacrifices we failed to make today may become a burden tomorrow.
Ask yourself... What's better for you in the long-run?
I hope you make the right choice @wolfje
@wolfje, first of all, I think, it's already great that you verbalized your fears.
how funny that I can absolutely resonate with them. I know them as if they were mine...(even though, I don't yet have a family to provide, I still have fears that I won't make the next year financially.)
The same with the doubts about strength and perseveirance... maybe these fears are just kinda human.
To choose the "right" path maybe questions help more:
Is it really something you want to do?
Would you do it if you hadn't had fears?
And if everything would go to waste, would you find another way?
Hope this comment is helpful to you! But just letting you know: I felt with you, and understand how it must feel!
Best wishes! Sam
Have you ever considered Looking into coursera or edx ? They both have introductions into coding. Plus advance classes You do not have to pay for coures unless you want to get a certificate. You can do it on your own time frame. And if you realize Coding is not for you. You won't have to go thru a ton of money.