hard times by Mattia

hard times by Mattia - February 2017 Scholarship Essay

In July 2012, I became a permanent resident in the U.S. and I started looking for an IT job. After a while, a Fortune 500 company hired me as a Help Desk Analyst and I thought that could be the beginning of a new career. Sadly, I was wrong. The work environment was negative and stressful and I wasn’t used to the corporate culture and to the different communication style in the U.S. When my department was laid off in July 2013 that was a turning point.
Until that moment I thought I could be successful in an IT career based on my professional experience. But, I realized my skills were outdated and I had to find a way to stand out. The lack of a formal IT education was a negative, because recruiters had a reason not to consider me even when I had the required skills and experience for the job.
old to start over. I feared I wouldn’t be able to work again, because I can’t do anything than IT.
In January 2014, I decided to address the issue and to enroll at Stark State College to achieve an Associate’s Degree in Cyber Security and Computer Forensics Technology. I’ve always wanted to work in cyber security but it was only a dream until I decided to do it. I was tired of being a Desktop Support Specialist and working crappy shifts. So, I decided to take advantage of this change in my life as an opportunity to switch careers.
In June 2014, I’ve been hired by Stark State College, Information Technologies & Engineering Technologies, and am now a student/worker. I’ve realized recently I needed even more skills and decided to go for a dual major (Computer Network Security Technologies with focus on UNIX/Linux Database Administration), after discussing it with my advisor. I want to focus on hacking and anti-hacking techniques and I need to delve into Linux for this purpose. But I realized there were not enough Linux classes in my original program and I want to have all the skills I need to be successful in my future career.
My story starts with one diploma and ends (hopefully) with another one. I thought I would follow a specific professional course when I graduated in Business but I ended up doing something completely different and unintended. Over time, I’ve found out that achieving my Business degree was only a starting point and I needed other steps to move forward in my career. We need to build on our skills to achieve our dreams. I could have stood where I was but I would have achieved nothing, I’d have been unhappy and probably I would have been laid off just the same. In fact, the Italian government started laying off its employees after I left, which marked the end of an age in Italy.
Eduardo De Filippo, a famous Italian playwright and actor, wrote a play called “ Gli esami non finiscono mai” (in English, “Exams never end”) where he states that you never stop learning in your life. Each one of us is like a student who goes always through exams but, unlike the college, in life there’s no final. That’s particularly true if you choose to work in IT because it changes constantly and what you learn today could be invalid tomorrow.
Society, especially today, is based on continuous learning and at Stark State I see several students, who are even much older than I am, go back to school and learn what they need to move up in their career and stay current. This is an opportunity to embrace the change and, if somebody is as crazy as me to cross an ocean to pursue its dreams, the sky is the limit.