Today I feel the need to share what motivated me to get my college degree as an adult learner. It was my first job working in Healthcare IT, and I was working as a Senior Computer Operator at a small hospital in Delaware. I worked with two other ladies who were my Director and basically an Assistant Director, both of whom had been in their positions for over 20 years, and had advanced in their positions without the help of a college degree. This meant that they would probably retire from this hospital, because I'm not sure what other company or healthcare system would have hired them in the type of positions that they were in without a degree. When I started, they trained me all the functions of the job that I was responsible for, and some of the things I needed to cover when I was on-call for the system. I say some of the things, because I didn't learn everything that they knew so that I could support it individually, and usually if I received a call, I had to call one of them to help me solve it.
A few years passed, and the hospital decided to replace the old computer system with a larger and more advanced system. This would allow the hospital to go fully electronic in the clinical documentation and medical record. When it was decided that we were moving on to another system, I was told by my Director, "Michelle, we are going to teach you everything about the old system, and we are going to learn the new system." This meant I would learn everything I should have been taught when I was hired, but where would that leave me when the old system was phased out? Needless to say, I took this as a slap in my face, and I left the office that day crying. That was also the day I decided I would never again be in a position that I had to depend on a job or anyone else to get ahead in the Healthcare IT field. So off to college I went. I was a wife, a mother to 3 children, all under the age of 10. I juggled going to school, working full-time, full-time wife and mother, and being faithful and committed to attending and working in church. After I got my Bachelors degree, I decided to get my Masters degree online, so I wouldn't be away from home so much.
The whole time I was going to school, my determination came from that one statement from my old Director. But who know that it was also to prepare me to be in a better financial position because of the fact that now I am single, and my income is the only income that sustains me and my household now? You never know why you feel the press on the inside to do something, but it really pays off to follow your instincts because we don't know what the future holds. Had I not gotten my degree, I would not qualify for the job I hold now.
Whenever someone says something to you that you don't agree with, or hurts your feelings, sometimes it's best to respond with action and this action could change the entire course of your life...so make sure it's a positive action.