Colorado Tech Online Students and Alumni
Meet Stephen Bryson
BSIT with a concentration in Software Systems Engineering
Returning to School is Difficult, but Worth It
Working full-time and going to school is enough of a challenge. Throw in a wedding, three kids moving in, a wife being diagnosed with ovarian cancer, bankruptcy and the possibility of losing your home and it would be enough to make almost anyone give up. Recent Colorado Technical University grad Stephen Bryson persevered through it all though.
"I'll be the first to say the last year has been hard, but I think it will pay off."
With his Bachelor's degree in Information Technology with a concentration in Software Systems Engineering, Stephen has already been offered an internship that, by the end of the first year will have him making $6,000 a month and he will have earned his Microsoft and Cisco certifications. This salary is nearly triple what he has been earning as head custodian for an Oregon school district.
"My family is so excited and proud of me." Stephen says his father always stressed the importance of a college education, but didn't have the money to pay for his three kids to go to school. "I had to work and pay my own way. That's why it has taken so long." Stephen is now 43. "I wasn't going to be buried before I had finished at least my Bachelor's degree."
After graduating from high school, Stephen took a few hours of classes at community colleges and eventually earned his Associate's degree in 1999 from a traditional ground school. He worked full-time and attended classes every weeknight. Sometimes he even had labs on the weekends. After getting his Associate's degree, Stephen took a break before starting at Colorado Tech Online in February 2004.
"I wish I had gone all the way through, but I didn't. I am glad I found Colorado Tech Online, though. I learned just as much— maybe more even—online as I did at the traditional school and it was much easier to work into my life."
Stephen says that having 24/7 access to discussions, chats, lectures and other class materials allowed him to work overtime and not be stressed out or to leave work early and not have to sit around and wait for a class to start. "Class was there whenever I was ready, whether it was midnight or Sunday. I didn't have to worry while I was at the hospital with my wife that I was missing a class. I knew it would be there when I got home."
Stephen thinks he learned more online than at the traditional school because of Colorado Tech Online's discussion boards and because of how much research he had to do. "One of the biggest pluses of Colorado Tech Online, which could sometimes seem like a minus, was that I couldn't always get an immediate answer from instructors. That forced me to do more research than I would have had to do otherwise. Learning how to do that research was quite an educational tool. I easily learned as much online, without ever actually seeing an instructor, as I did in a traditional classroom."
Of course Stephen has a favorite instructor. "I had Instructor Whale for the last two terms and he was always very helpful. I never actually spoke to him, but whenever I would email him or ask a question on a discussion board he got back to me in a timely manner. He always pointed me in the right direction the first time and understood exactly what I was asking. I appreciated everything he did."
Evidently Instructor Whale appreciated the work Stephen put into his classes. Stephen got A's both terms, which fit right in with all of the A's he earned in his other classes. "I graduated with a 3.39 GPA, but aced the last two terms."
Now that he has finished school, Stephen is concentrating on a complete career change. "I had thought life was going to be relaxed and easy after I graduated, but now I find myself spending just as much time searching for a completely new job as I had spent studying. I'm going for a complete career change. I'm now eligible for all these jobs that I couldn't apply for before because I now have a four-year degree. Just having a degree gets my phone calls returned and my foot in the door."
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