When we were young, we were always cheering on the adult who went back to school. It was like "yeah, you go!!", all the while we were surviving on ramen and cheerios staying up all night partying. Not having a clue what these adults did, how they made it work, as we weren't quite ready for the real world ourselves.
Well, fast forward fifteen years, and I realized my liberal arts degree with no focus has not gotten me where I needed to go. I have managed and worked for Enterprise, and I managed a portrait studio for several years. Now, I get the luxury of being a stay at home, for which I am eternally grateful.
However, my kids are getting older now. While there is no urgent need for me to go back to work, I want to refine my skills a little, so if I ever need to go back to work I won't be in the same situation. Always an arts minded person, I never thought about the tech world. I am married to a programmer, yet I always seemed to dismiss that as 'his' work. For my entire life, I put myself in the none "math" box. Realizing this cuts me off from the ENTIRE world, this has been quite a mistake.
So, after my careful consideration of what I have done most of my life, I realized web development and design is in my future. In high school and college, I loved arranging the publications on the computer. Design arrangement on any kind of brochure, flyer, website, newspaper, or anywhere has always been fun for me. I enjoy making those quotes you see on Facebook with a picture.
Talking to my husband, who directed me to udacity. #udacity is awesome! I realized I can do this. HTML is not that difficult, and actually quite fun. Learning the design rules on arrangement and typography will make what I love to do make even more sense. Finally, I'm excited to create something just from my own imagination. I have been self teaching with udacity to make sure this is something I am truly comfortable doing. (And I LOVE IT)
Since I have no work experience, we decided to have me try for a degree. Thankfully, I do qualify for the Pell grant this year, so I will be able to do it at little to no cost to us. So, off to the college I went, and I almost felt like I was going to throw up. All the fresh faced, trendy student walking around with their backpacks and phones. I was like OMG can I do this again? Debating whether or not I can handle a full load of classes, it has been 15 years since I was last there! Why would I really need to spend $200 on any book?? All of these things have been spiraling through my mind. I already have a degree, so the stress of making sure my current credits transfer has also been exciting as well.
So, am I too old for this? maybe.. But, will I still try? yes. We aren't sure if I will qualify for financial aid next year, so this seems to be my year. I'm terrified as I don't see the world through those fresh faced pair of eyes. No, I see the face through eyes that have seen life, laughter, and tears. Eyes that have woken up early, and stayed up late with a sick or scared child. Well, these eyes won't let me down as they attempt to learn an entire new skill.
