Hello! My name is Samuel Gillingham, and this is my first blog post. You may be asking, "Why, Sam, you're 26 years old---why are you writing your first blog post now?" That's a great question, reader. The answer is simple: compulsion. In the spirit of full transparency, I'd like you to know I'm being forced to write this blog post against my will for school. So, if you get a "HELP ME" vibe from this post, then don't just stand there---HELP ME. But before you call the authorities, take a few minutes and read a few lines of text that explain why I'm currently enrolled at MATC.
Last Spring, I graduated from UWM with a B.S. degree and majored in Information Science and Technology. I learned about various areas of IT, ranging from databases and MySQL to Web Design and HTML. I sent pings in the command line interface of Cisco routers and learned about SSL Certificates (maybe my blog could use one). I was essentially Bill Gates. However, there was one drawback, in my opinion, of spending my time covering all of those various area of IT during my time at UWM. The drawback was that I felt like I was only dipping my toe in the pool. I had transferred to UWM from MATC with all of my GEDs taken care of, which meant I only needed two years of courses specific to my B.S. degree program. I learned a lot in those two years (I was Bill Gates, remember?); but I knew I needed to learn more, and I knew I needed more hands-on training. In the big field of IT, there are many different areas of specialization so I needed to pick a focus and attack it. Ultimately, for me, it came down to two different areas of study: programming and networking. After some soul-searching, I decided on networking since I've always enjoyed hardware and toying around with gadgets. Having already gone to MATC, I was aware of the awesome IT programs the school offered. So, I applied for the Accelerated Online Networking Program---and here we are! I continue to take courses, like the one that's forcing me to write this post, while I work full-time at Northwestern Mutual (NM). I started with NM early last Summer as a contractor on the Integrated Website Services team. It was a call-center job for a web support team that was tasked with offering live assistance to both internal and external users of various company applications. After six months or so, NM offered me a Full-Time Employee (FTE) position, making me an NM employee. And a few months after that, I was promoted to Associate Engineer on an application support team. I work closely with numerous developers and product managers to make sure the application trains run on time. Overall, I really love the company and can see myself having a long career there.
Considering this is my first and only blog post (and that it was compelled by threat of academic injury), I think I did an alright job---and I hope you think so, too! Stay tuned for any additional posts I may be forced to write. Or, who knows, maybe I'll willingly write a post one of these days. :)
