Since the start of the year, I made many goals. I have broken many but I’m not mad at myself. In the past, I would have been but the amount of progress that I’ve made this year is incredible. I would like to thank past Jay, current Jay, and I am looking forward to future Jay. I am happy with myself and have never been so proud of myself.
I am currently studying full time as a McMaster university student and working full time as an IT professional filling two positions while continuing to train for my ironman. At the start of the year, once again my workload increased due to COVID 19 crippling our healthcare system. Multiple workers were then sent back to WFH and employees who did not WFH before were now being introduced to this environment. The amount of excessive work being thrown at me is becoming the norm and I am afraid of what will happen when everything cools down again, I am starting to enjoy this chaotic environment.
In IT, multiple employees like myself have had an increase in workload without a salary increase even though we have had to adapt to faster paced environments and increase our productivity to keep the business running. The number of technologies I have had to learn on the fly in our infrastructure while also supporting the end user has increased ten-fold, but I have been able to manage, and this has made me a better IT Professional. Keeping the infrastructure running while also handling these additional roles and responsibilities while dealing with many projects within the organization has shown me how capable I am of doing more. I am now looking at job positions at a global point and will start throwing my resume at companies I want to work for to continue growing and to be paid fairly. I am also working on another raise for my current job while I do this. I like to keep all my options open while I look.
I will be graduating University with an undergraduate degree in Sociology this year. While taking these courses, I have learned a lot about myself. I never thought this degree would help me understand the world and help me understand myself. I always thought a liberal arts degree was pointless but after reading an inquiry on why young adults choose their majors and careers was very eye opening to me (along with reading a boatload of books, something I never do). A small ethnographic (qualitative and quantitative methods were used) study was done at a university and students were asked a variety of questions on what they wanted to do and why. The students who came from low-income families looked at going to college because the education they saw could be applied to real world jobs. They were looking at being employed for their applied skills from the program they took. They were also limited on what future jobs were available from their social surroundings and influence from their life. Looking at my social standpoint, my parents worked in factories, and I did not know what jobs were available since they were always working and rarely gave that advice. I only saw what I knew which was very limited from my social standpoint. When I think about the high-income individuals I know, they had a better idea on careers, schooling needed to be done, and a push from their educated family since they knew what direction to push them at and give them a much better idea on what to do (since they already went through it). These are small but huge advantages in a young teenager’s life.
In the study, when the lower income students looked at liberal art degrees, they saw them as useless since they could not apply them to real world jobs and talked about the stigma behind those degrees (something I did as well). The privileged income students chose liberal arts because they were aware of what it could bring to the table. The study also revealed that although liberal undergraduate degrees pay less in the beginning, the undergraduate student makes more than the college graduate in the long run. The college graduate makes more in the beginning of their career but then it stagnates (something I am seeing in the real world). One of the differences is the student going to a professional school thus increasing their social status and job status. There are many other variables in the chapter, but it was an interesting read and I related to a lot of it. The information gathered was from “Choosing majors, Choosing Careers” by Ann L. Mullen.
I have been thinking about what will happen once I graduate. I doubt my family or anyone I know reads my blog, but I believe my dad may have been a strong influence on what I am currently doing and wanting. I want to see if I can some how transition to law or work in politics. My dad has always talked about politics and current events throwing random historical information throughout my whole life. He went to school for accounting but he really wanted to be a lawyer. Once he immigrated to USA, his accounting credentials were not recognized so he was forced to work in factories. He always talked about wanting to become a lawyer but due to the civil war and being an immigrant with little money in a new country, his dream was gone like many other immigrants. I see his sadness when he talks about it. He had the intellect for it.
This is the first time I have talked about this, but I have been planning this change for over 7 years and it’s always been in the back of my mind for an incredibly long time. I have only told this to one person that I wanted to do this and now I am so close to this change. I may finally be able to do this and I’m scared and excited. I never thought I would continue the academic life for this long and continue pushing myself to do better and see myself as the educated person I am becoming.
As for the gym, I have not gone for about 2-3 weeks since work and school has become increasingly demanding. I am constantly completing assignments, doing well in tests, doing well in quizzes, and getting tons of reading material thrown at me. This is something I am happy about since I am starting to enjoy reading and it’s forcing me to expand my vocabulary. I must re-read everything to understand what these academic individuals are explaining, and it takes a lot of my time to understand them. There was one class I was falling behind and informed the professor, but I am finally caught up and now being proactive by finishing some assignments this week to not be hammered down for the remaining weeks. My time management is becoming better and my procrastination to do tasks is disappearing. I am noticing and it is an incredible change. I’ve also had to take my limited vacation days to be on track. This is for my future. This is all for a better me and my future.
I’m so close to finishing my heaviest semester that I have ever taken. Throughout this semester I’ve really felt the heaviness of what I’m doing, and it has affected me since I am always thinking about what needs to be completed. I’m not going to lie, when all of this is happening my stress levels are high, but I am so close to finishing that I’m breaking internal barriers and preparing for what is to come next (moving away from my hometown). I must hit up the gym now, I’m too motivated from writing this.
