"Why I am at MATC"

I am a student at MATC because I was looking to get a Cisco certification originally and then discovered a really great hands-on college program right in my own backyard. I did a Google search for Cisco Exams and got a hit for MATC as being a testing center for a lot of network related certifications. I can't tell you how surprised I was. I was curious about if MATC had any degrees in networking. So I decided to do another search and I found an IT Networking Specialist degree at MATC. So I inquired and was told that there would be online accelerated courses. I was interested in the online course because I would be able to travel for work and still keep up with my online classes.  After successfully completing most of the accelerated courses, I learned about an IT Security program at the Mequon Campus. I found the second program to be just as interesting as the first Networking Specialist program.

The "Why I Really Was Interested and Choose the two Degree programs" was pretty simple. I have been working during the day as a full-time product manager in a commercial building automation building controls company. The industry started out with pneumatic controls and transitioned into direct digital controls networks that were web based Ethernet over IP. I really wanted to get more training and gain a better understanding of where the next 3 to 5 years may be heading with our industry. So I turned to MATC's two programs to help me gain the knowledge and the skills to get comfortable with my commercial building controls industry and also understand where it is going.

Almost everything I learned in the two programs thus far --- I have been able to directly apply at my work. For example, I did not know much about "Authentication" but one or two classes provided me with information to quickly learn about it. I could suddenly intelligently describe the type of authentication that we had in our product lines. I could even read about additional authentication options that could be added to the products. So I quickly saw the value in what I was learning from online classes and how I was able to apply my knowledge almost immediately.  I had no trouble picking projects and writing papers since everything just clicked and I could link what I was learning from my classes to what I was doing during the day at my full-time job. [You know that you are on to something when you feel confident and comfortable with subject and are suddenly considered the Subject Matter Expert by your colleagues without even really trying.]

I had lots of assignments where I had to quickly read and figure out how to apply my knowledge. One example, where I applied what I learned from my online classes was for a military related risk management process. The goal of the risk management process was to do a risk analysis on the networked system and determine if the risk was acceptable by the installation or military base. The system may just keep the temperature under control in the buildings on the base but the system's network had to sometimes ride on the same network as other more important systems---thus the need for the risk assessment.

Not only did the online program at MATC directly fit what I was doing at work but I could see that the program would help me re-launch my career. It was a new beginning for me. Something I discovered on my own. Yes, I could have gone after a MBA degree but I found the IT networking to be more challenging. I was curious and wanted to see what the degree and IT industry was all about. Through my journey at MATC, I found a wonderful new challenging world!

My career suddenly had a new life to it! I found that practically no one was thinking about products the way I was thinking about them. I was wondering how security would play a role in the commercial industry in the next decade. Would the industry be driven by military, federal government and large corporate customers? Would someday people demand more security? How would the rest of the industry respond? I really felt like I was revolutionist. People used to tell me that I was scaring people at work with my statements. But lately, because of other events in the news, colleagues and supervisors are starting to take me more seriously. I was respected and knew I had to not take advantage of that respect.

Today my career interests center around advancing IT Security and helping to institutionalize it. I really would like to see more people design products and processes with security in mind. With the industry and the world changing so quickly, I feel I can look forward to the next ten to fifteen years of interesting and challenging work. I truly see myself continuing to learn and remain a lifelong learner until I retire. And there is life after retirement that will be filled with traveling around the world and learning about different cultures.

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Thank you,