Back to school I go

[Tin]

Yesterday, I enrolled at the local community college after a roughly 6 year absence. Ive worked my way up well in a local credit union over the last 8 years, but I grew comfortable with the pay and ended up not going back to school. The problem is, I cant see myself working the banking industry until I collect Social Security (yeah right!). Ive always been an IT guy at heart, but havent worked professionally in the industry since about 2001, leaving a huge gap in my resume. Well, 19 credits and 6 years later, Im doing it, Im headed back. It feels kinda funny going back to college at the ripe old age of 32, but its better now than never. Has anybody else here gone back to school at 30+ years old? If so, how was the experience? Did you have to bust knuckles with any punk kids? In all seriousness though, was it easy to find a job in your field? I know 32 is young to many of you, but I get this feeling sometimes that being at this age companies may not want me in favor of a 20-something.

[edfair]

Nothing like getting the education and then applying it at the credit union.

It has been a while but I spent many hours working with the executive in charge of IT at a large CU in Atlanta. He was expanding his IT knowledge as we worked through hardware issues.

[Tin]

I do some of the IT work here at my credit union, but not all of it. I see tons more room for improvement, but our IT director has had his position for close to 40 years, and most of his methodology is very archaic. Even though hes old fashioned, we do work together well. Its not that hes scared of doing things a new way, he just feels his tried and true ways are better, no matter what.

[Nuclear Krusader]

Originally Posted by Tin ...but I get this feeling sometimes that being at this age companies may not want me in favor of a 20-something.

They might find you 'overqualified'.

I was in college at the age of 30, dropped out at 32. You mileage might vary; I didn't have to brush knuckles with punks, but getting along with youngsters proved nigh impossible. Also, at my age my mind is not as sharp as it once was, and I constantly lagged behind. The age gap matters to them too: most don't wanna be working with their father when it comes to team up for projects, you do get to find out how the white pepper feels: being the last jar on the counter and only chosen when all the other spices are unavailable.

[jdeb]

Congrats Tin, going back to school is always a good decision.

[HAL9000]

I went back to school two weeks after my 41st birthday. I didn't have any problems getting along with my classmates that ranged in age from 17 to 25 with about 3 more around 30-31ish. Yes, there were the "old guy" jokes and such, but they were all in good fun as they included me in everything from study groups, "shared" documents and after semester parties. They knew I struggled with some classes as things don't necessarily get easier with age, but congratulated me for sticking it out when we graduated this past April.

As for getting a job... I was part of a mandatory co-op program that put me in 3x 4 month work terms which pretty much allowed me to prove myself for a job. I had my offer the first week of March... a full 5 weeks before writing final exams.

Go get them Tin and show them what you've got!

[Nuclear Krusader]

What if he's got nothing?

[HAL9000]

Then he's screwed.

[Force Flow]

I took a Cisco class at a local community college to brush up on it about 5 years after I graduated from college. The class was a mix of adults and college-age students. Everybody seemed to get along. After all--students in a specific field of study are typically there because they're interested in it (unlike gen-ed classes), and that alone dissolves some of the barriers that you might otherwise see going back to college as an adult.