Get my Master's

Registration day has arrived and I registered for a database admin course (grad credit) and a basic principles of econ course (undergrad). At this point I am going to continue along the IT Mgmt. track. My rationale is that the coursework will be immediately useful in my career, and also that I haven’t done enough thinking about other career possibilities yet to justify footing the bill myself for the courses.

The econ course won’t count toward the degree but is a prereq for courses that do. Also I have been wanting to learn more about econ for several years – never took it in college and always feel a little in the dark when I hear news about the economy.

I spent a bunch of time this weekend avoiding other goals, but doing some research on this one. I’m beginning to question the idea of doing anything more with IT. I got into this field accidentally in 1992 and have never really meant to stay with it. So why bother with this degree? If it takes me until 2011 to get it, and then say another 5 years at least working in the field, then I am over 50 before I am ready to move on to something else.

Why not work on something else now? My company won’t pay for the courses, since they’re not in IT, but that shouldn’t dictate where I’m going with my future.

I’m interested in the environment, especially what’s happening in cities like Portland with green building, etc. I notice that the Harvard Extension School also has an Environmental Mgmt. degree that I could get mostly online. Also, rather than waiting until 2011 to go resident in Cambridge, I could potentially move to Boston in, say, summer of 2008 and then be able to take the courses in the evenings on campus. If so I’d need to find another job since my company isn’t in that geographic market.

I talked to my boss yesterday about taking advantage of my company’s educational reimbursement plan. He said it sounded fine and to send him the required form.

I left grad school at the end of ‘91 with a bunch of incompletes. Since then I have gone a different way with my career, so I wouldn’t go back to school in the same field (geography). I don’t have any pressing reason career-wise to get a Masters, it’s just more that I feel grad school beat me in earlier years and I’d like to win that battle. I have a terrible record following through with long-term challenges like that, I’d like to see myself do it.

Currently I’m planning to take a course in spring ‘07 through the Harvard Extension School. We’ll see how that goes. If well, it’ll be the first of three qualifying courses I’d need for admittance into an IT Mgmt. program. I register December 4th.