The non-traditional graduate student
I’m a full-time graduate student…. the full classification is “full-time non-traditonal graduate student”. People ask me why I decided to go back to school in my early 40′s when I had a good job with a good salary working in a fun industry? Well, I came to the conclusion that while it was nice making good money, it wasn’t worth the price of surrendering my soul.
I was at “unnamed company” for 15 years. The last five of those years was spent living in that grey area between being a software developer, project manager, and department manager. At a point, it became clear that I was becoming bored doing the same thing over and over as a software developer, stressed out to the point of a heart attack as project manager, and hitting the glass wall of moving any further up the food chain as a manager.
That was when I realized it was time to leave “unnamed company”. I had joined “unnamed company” with all intent of only giving it five years and going on to get my Ph.D. Then, I woke up 15 years later. That was when I rolled the dice, broke all the connections I had with “unnamed company” and became a graduate student.
So, it’s now three years later, I’m struggling to get good traction on my dissertation, and the money is getting thin. But you know what, I’m still damn glad I made that leap.
Selah.