My schooling was not the best when I was younger. I went to a middle school for kids with learning disabilities.  I wasn’t challenged or taught how to study properly take notes. High School wasn’t pretty, I went to a computer based school for kids that couldn’t get in anywhere else. For me, I was only there because of my learning disabilities and love of computers. Little did I know when I registered that the whole school was filled with juvenile delinquents. I obviously had a hard time fitting in and making friends with the other ‘kids’. I used to bring a CD Player to drown out the never ending talk of drugs, alcohol, and sex.

It was so bad at that High School that I ended up ‘hacking’ into one of the school’s servers using a thin client made available to students. I merely used it for internet browsing.. The IT Staff didn’t put a bloody password on the server. I used Word XP’s Macro editor to launch protected files. Mainly mstsc.exe (Remote Desktop), to search for a PC that I could get internet through. Turns out that the Administrator account on one server didn’t have a password and group policy had been modified to allow remote connections to users without passwords. The IT Staff never noticed until a teacher caught me with Pocket Firefox open. The first rule of hacking, never get caught. I wasn’t sure what they used to record PC usage, but they were able to view everything I did after the teacher notified the school. I ended up withdrawing and getting a GED after that. Boy did I learn my lesson!

Now, I’m a full time student at DeVry University in Phoenix, working towards a Bachelor’s in CIS (Computer Information Systems). I hope DeVry can help fill the gaps that I have in many things. Some in programming (I’m mainly self taught) and others in general education.

Any employers out there? Would you hire a graduate with a BS from DeVry? Have you heard any bad things about the education at DeVry? If there are any DeVry Alumni out there, do you have any advice for a new DeVry student? I’m just scared of not knowing what I need to learn to be successful in the software engineering field. The DeVry program I’m in doesn’t teach much more than I already know. I’d end up testing out of the fun classes (programming) to just get the credits.

Once I’m settled at DeVry, I plan to do an internship at Microsoft hopefully next year. Assuming Microsoft didn’t cut down the number of students they take in because of the ‘recession’. It should be nice to take a break from school and do something I’ve wanted to do for many years.

After graduation I’ll probably go out looking for local job. Hopefully I can put my knowledge to good use. I’d rather not start out cleaning toilets at McDonalds. I think I would rather be the person making the meat more than cleaning up people’s waste.

Anyway, that’s all for now. If I feel the need to rant again. I’m sure you’ll see another post.

Comments are open, so voice your opinions or respond to my questions if you desire.