Ten years after having a dark storm cloud arrive on my scene

Storm clouds often arrive and darken the landscape. Some pass through quickly, while others seem to linger forever. Rather than focusing on the darkness, the old adage goes, you need to look for the silver lining. A dark storm cloud arrived on my horizon ten years ago this morning, seemingly with no silver lining.

At roughly 7:30 AM on Wednesday, October 3, 2007, my world was turned upside down, or at least turned sideways. It was then that I was invited into the company president's office and told that my position was being eliminated, and my services would no longer be required by the company, effective immediately. I was not a terribly happy camper at this point. In hindsight, I should have seen it coming, but I had not been looking for it, so it came as a surprise. A surprise for which I was not prepared.

To put this into perspective, I had worked for this company since July 1, 1979--nearly three decades. To further put this in perspective, except for a couple high school jobs, this position was my first and only professional job for which I had ever interviewed. For the next three months, I learned what it meant to be unemployed, and daily looking for work.

The many job applications led to a few interviews, but either the companies weren't interested in me, or I wasn't interested in the position, after learning more about it. One week led to another, and I found myself waking up early on a Wednesday morning between Christmas and New Years, and not being able to go back to sleep.

For years, I had thought about earning a master's degree, but never acted on it.  After three months, and still not having a paying position, the prospect of returning to school came to the forefront. Early on that Wednesday morning, I filled out the online application for graduate school at Ball State University (BSU), and waited to push the submit button. Around 7:30 AM my wife arose and I asked her what she thought of me applying. After a brief conversation, we agreed that we'd make it work, and figure out how to pay for it somehow. I pushed the submit button, not really knowing what was coming next.

By 10:30 that Wednesday morning, I had an email from the BSU Computer Science Department chair indicating that if I could complete the graduate school application process by the end of the day Friday (classes started the next Monday!), he had an empty graduate assistantship he could offer me. A big part of the "how will we pay for this" question was just answered. At 5:15 PM on Friday, the last pieces fell into place, and I was officially a graduate student.

Officially a graduate student, and being ready for classes to start Monday are two different things.  Monday morning I met with a faculty member to figure out in what classes I should enroll. Having worked in industry for nearly thirty years meant that, although I had continued to learn, the current state of computer science had moved quicker than I had. I had a bit of catching up to do, to have the same knowledge as students graduating with a bachelor's degree. They were using computer programming languages that didn't even exist when I graduated with my Bachelor's degree in 1979. Soon, that all got sorted out, I registered for classes, and thus started my graduate school journey.

Jumping ahead in the story a bit, in May 2010, I graduated from BSU with a Master's of Science degree in Computer Science. Oh, I jumped a bit too far... A few month's before, a new contract faculty position in the BSU Computer Science Department was posted. I applied, and was selected to fill this position, starting in the fall of 2010. I was officially a college professor, and have been since!

So where has my journey taken me? The answer includes a lot of places I may not have traveled were it not for my dark storm cloud arriving ten years ago. I have physically traveled to Denmark, England, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and a variety of USA cities. I have presented papers internationally and locally. I have been published in journals and books. But one of the biggest journeys on which I have embarked since graduating in 2010, and the one which has brought me so much joy and satisfaction, is having the privilege of helping thousands of college students further their knowledge of computer science, themselves, and the world.

I think I have found the silver lining.