College Life

  • I really loved my undergraduate school (State University of New York at Fredonia), nice, small school with a pretty campus, very small town. I don't see that there would be much opportunity for me there, but I am very happy to hear that my niece just got accepted there.

    To quote my husband, who had been approached about a job in Indiana:

    Them: What would it take for you to move to Indiana for this position?

    My husband: A divorce, because my wife won't want to leave Colorado! (a joke, but really pretty true)

  • I spent one year at a Junior College in St. George, Utah. I would love to move back there to work. Small town with plenty of outdoor activities. I then spent three years at a University and had a great time. I would not mind working at the university but would not want to live in that town again.

  • I graduated from Drexel University in Philadelphia with a BS in CIS in 1994. I guess I have been lucky because I took a job in Philadelphia directly after graduating and worked my way up the career ladder by never staying at a company more than 3 years until my current job which I have been at for 4 years and I have never had to claim unemployment. Also I went back to Drexel for my masters in Information Systems and Technology.

  • I graduated from Ryerson Polytechnical Institute (now Ryerson University) in Toronto with a BSc in Applied Comp Sci. in 1989. While I do now live in Toronto (the most underrated great city in the world), you could not pay me enough money to go back there. The faculty at the time were, for the most part, lazy, under/un-qualified, and completely out of touch with the current state of computer science and computer technology in general.

    Dunno what it's like now, but I think most of the faculty I had are still there.

  • Working in Liverpool?

    Shudder

  • I currently live in Newport News, VA (the main reason for even replying). It's located in the Hampton Roads region which includes Virginia Beach. Yay! Just moved down here back in August with the girlfriend and was hired for a SharePoint position. It's a great area to be in.

  • Funny that you ask. My first job after graduation from college (10 years ago) WAS working for my alma mater (Boston University).

    I give the experience a plus on perks - I worked with some great faculty and staff, we had a very laid back office, and health/dental/benefits were pretty good. One of our benefits was tuition for a class a semester, and discounts to take more classes OR for our families to take classes (lots of people with kids in college took jobs working for the school to help defray costs.)

    The downside is that with good benefits, they felt absolutely no need to offer competitive salaries to anyone outside of top faculty. As a secretary working for an academic department, I made less than $20K/year.

    --Poppy

  • What I wouldn't give.....

    to have NOT followed that OTHER woman I married in San Diego which has led me to a programming job in Montana. I'm still here, stuck with her to this day, dying in dreamless life.

    To have stayed there with the dream woman of my life, Lisa Albertson, as a Production analyst for Union Bank. WOW! What I wouldn't give...

    The work was constantly changing (they created 3 positions for me over the years) and I worked with some of the neatest folks, doing some near miracles in the field and living a dream life with my dream gal. I never enjoyed life so much and have never been as able to create money, time, love, sex, and dreams as I did with her.... in the place I loved. I received a BBA and an MBA from National University along the way with her....and I loved that life. But I dumped all of that.

    I have been there since and it's changed, as have I. I'd go back in a minute if I could, but I'm 53 and too old to make the multitude of changes I would have to make and tired of the I/S rat race I've been a part of for some 34 years.

    While I have a good life and many of the trappings that entails, I've never been able to recover what I've thrown away.

    My advice is that if you love your life (and job OR WOMAN.....) take a pay cut; drop the promotions; drop all of the other women, jobs, excitement and bite the bullet, take a vacation with her and tell her you love her. LIVE YOUR LIFE like there's no tomorrow and keep on winning.

    It's the only thing thing in life worth living for.

    Semper FI!

  • Sambo...

    "dying in dreamless life" ????

    Maybe reread the last part of your post and take your own advise. Look around, you live in one of the most incredible places in the world!

    I'm sure this forum has brought back a ton of great MEMORIES for all of us. Easy to put a romantic spin on the past... make the most of where we are and if that's not good enough make a change.

  • I do and I know it. But it's not my dream.

    The post was about one's dream job/life...

  • I would love to move back to Arcata and live in the Redwoods. I actually applied for a job and was offered it and 10 min later they called me back and said they had given it to someone else. I would love to live up there because the cost of living is less and I would actually be able to afford to buy a house. But that would also mean taking a $30K a year cut in pay. That I am not willing to do at this point. The economy is not great and out of all of my friends from college, only one is still there in the area.

    I have tried to get a job on an academic campus. I think it would be great to be able to go and listen to lectures from people who are the top in their field. So far my path has not taken that route.

    I have gone back and visited and every once in a while I feel like I want to go back and I look for job listings. But then I come back to reality and realize that just for today I have a great job

  • I would move back to Alaska in a heartbeat if I had a job waiting. Some of my best years were spent there.

    Michael Fox

    SQL Server DBA

    Texas

  • Sambo,

    Stop beating yourself up over a decision you now regret. Many of us have made decisions we later regret. But you have to start making yourself happy in your life!!!! Don't throw in the towel!!!

  • Sambo,

    Life is WAY too short not to find happiness. OK, you can't have Lisa back, but there's a lot you can have. Maybe it wasn't Lisa at all but rather what she brought out in you. Go to your quiet place and really think about what she brought out that made you so happy. Try to re-create that for yourself.

    At your age, if you have children, they are probably on their own now, so this is a time of freedom for you. Explore something. Find something that makes YOU happy.

    My things are music, T'ai Chi, and camping. What are yours?

    If you don't know, just try something and see how it feels.

    Forgive me for sounding like Dr. Phil, but I genuinely feel for you and want you to find the joy in life.

    Happy New Year.

  • Hey, and this is to all of you, Don't get me wrong.

    I live a block from where I work. I make good money where I am and I'm OK at what I do. I have a victorian home in the mansion district and I have a new car, 2 adopted kids in their 20s and 3 grandkids. I have 1/2 glass full and am quite healthy. I go to Las Vegas to play often and have a good life. My wife is a great gal, though damaged by an accident that occurred thse 20 years ago

    It's just that the post Steve elicited was the truth about that dream job/time.

    My soul will never be free from the longing I created some 20 years ago because I hurt my soul-mate, if there was ever such a thing. I've earned this and I will never be the same because I was too stupid to accept that I had arrived. I was a STAR and I was great at what I did. I lived and felt it. It smarts and I haven't the strength nor the endurance to try to recapture it.

    Mediocre..

    That's what I am and what I've bought and paid for.

    AND .....I'm brave enough to accept it, too. Fear not. I'm not dead yet, no.... far from it. I have interests and a life far from my job today that I often pursue, but I am still very aware of that string of bad decisions that placed me here. I have truly reaped what I have sown. My heart will have to wait until some other life where I can be with my dear friend, Lisa again.

    She is married to another person, south of San Fran and I would move heaven and earth to be with her. And I have learned that this life is all about that lesson of Love that I rejected.

    I'm really a happy sort, but for that lesson I took on.

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