So back when I originally started on the journey, I had quite a few credits coming into the degree. In fact the grand total of credits I had coming into the program was Thirty-Four. I thought that was a pretty good start on a degree, considering I’ve been doing IT work for 20+ years. I mean, sure it could have been better, but it could have been a whole lot worse.
At least I was getting some credit for my certifications and experience. Several of the colleges I was looking at wouldn’t even have given me that much.

Flash forward, and now my first six month term is over. In that amount of time I managed to finish up an additional 26 credits towards my degree plan.

• Introduction to IT
• Critical Thinking
• Integrated Physical Science
• Business of IT – Applications (ITIL)
• Natural Science Lab
• Managing Web Security (CIW-WSA)
• Web Development Foundations (CIW Site Development Associate)
• Introduction to Communications

None of these classes were particularly difficult. In fact the two CIW Certs I took were both fairly lame. Not difficult, just lame. The Web Security cert was more or less a CompTIA Security+ Lite… and the Site Development cert was more or less just a basic HTML5 exam.
IMHO, you can customize your WordPress Theme, you can pass the CIW Site Development Associate exam without too much difficulty.

Likely the most difficult out of the group was the Introduction to Communications course, just because of how much of a perfectionist I am. I had to do a presentation for the class… no biggie, but I ended up spending about two hours in front of the camera saying, rephrasing, re-saying, repeating, and re-presenting what I wanted to say for a Five minute presentation more times than I care to remember. I think pieced it all together using Adobe Premiere and Adobe After Effects.
I was mostly happy with the results, and passed that portion of the class without any issues. The rough draft of the presentation and the topic gave me fits, but the presentation was just a matter of doing it.Scripting and Programming – FoundationsLikely the most difficult out of the group was the Introduction to Communications course, just because of how much of a perfectionist I am. I had to do a presentation for the class… no biggie, but I ended up spending about two hours in front of the camera saying, rephrasing, re-saying, repeating, and re-presenting what I wanted to say for a Five minute presentation more times than I care to remember. I think pieced it all together using Adobe Premiere and Adobe After Effects.
I was mostly happy with the results, and passed that portion of the class without any issues. The rough draft of the presentation and the topic gave me fits, but the presentation was just a matter of doing it.

So, here I am in Term 2 now… Where do we go from here?
Now that I’ve knocked out a bunch of the low hanging fruit, this term I am going to be working on a Project Management course, a scripting course, and two database courses. Hopefully this will make for a more challenging term than last term (not that I’m complaining).

• Business of IT – Project Management (CompTIA Project +)
• Scripting and Programming – Foundations
• Data Management – Foundations
• Data Management – Applications

In other news… I think my life has finally calmed down (Knock on Wood). This last six month term was rather hellish, between the drama we came home to after Thailand and changing jobs twice. While I job I just started is going to be more time consuming than the last one, it came with yet another nice sized raise. Also am, so far, enjoying the work. Mind you I’m not doing a whole lot, but of the work I know about, I am looking forward to getting more of it.

The new job should also give me easier access to WordPress.com for blogging as well, which will be helpful…

Additionally, it appears I am about to be joined by both my wife and my oldest son. My wife is also looking at the CyberSecurity and Information Assurance Bachelors at WGU, while my oldest son is looking at the Cloud and System Administration Bachelors. They both passed ITIL V3 Foundations in the past month as proof they should be enrolled in the programs.

I’m looking forward to have some company, and some study partners.

Categories: Business of IT - Project Management, Data Management - Applications, Data Management - Foundations, Scripting and Programming - Foundations, Term 2

Tags: Term 1, Term 2