Colorado Tech Online Students and Alumni
Meet William Schoonmaker
BSBA with a concentration in Information Technology
William Schoonmaker does not like unfinished business. Even though he had climbed the career ladder through hard work and experience to a prestigious position at the Wachovia Corporation, continuing his education has always been one of his goals. "Earning a Bachelor's degree has been one of my goals ever since I dropped out of school in order to work and start a family at age 21. I worked my up through various companies and various positions such as programmer, consultant and eventually, database administrator at Wachovia. But I never escaped the feeling that something was missing."
Before long, the missing element of William's professional life became apparent to him. "I was surrounded by highly educated people in my work environment. Although I could hold my ground in any discussion involving a technical topic, I would find myself changing the subject, or evading questions whenever someone asked where I went to college or what sort of a degree I have. I did not want to announce that I did not have a college degree and that was holding me back from developing full confidence in my abilities."
William initially enrolled in a brick and mortar university, but for various reasons that did not work out for him. Another three years passed before he discovered Colorado Tech Online. "I was impressed that Colorado Tech Online also has well-established ground campuses, so I looked at their web site more closely. I also looked into several other universities, some online and some traditional. I enrolled in Colorado Tech Online for several reasons. I decided that the flexibility that the 100% online format offers would be the best fit for my schedule. Colorado Tech Online is accredited and that is very important to me. Last but not least, after comparing it to other online universities, I decided that Colorado Tech Online uses the best technology available for online learning and offers the closest rendition of a physical classroom environment."
William enrolled in the Bachelor of Science degree program with a concentration in Information Technology. He was very impressed with the curriculum that Colorado Tech Online offers. "I feel it is very well-rounded. There is a very good balance between the technical, managerial and business aspects of information technology. I already had a very good technical background, so the knowledge of organizational behavior and project management skills I acquired through my courses probably have benefited me the most in my career. I found that the course materials and project-based learning are very relevant to actual practices in information technology and the financial industry. I even used some of my course work in a presentation at Wachovia on layers of networking in the oracle database."
William was also very impressed with the Virtual Campus that Colorado Tech Online offers. "The many features offered through the Virtual Campus worked very well for me in many ways. I have improved my research skills and that helps me find answers and solve problems in my profession. I am particularly impressed with the level of interaction that the Virtual Campus facilitates among students and instructors. I found that the group projects in my courses are very relevant to my work environment. Virtual teams that work together from remote locations are becoming more and more common in many industries. The group projects helped me sharpen my group dynamics and management skills and I have been able to work that into my daily routine in my profession. Overall, Colorado Tech Online was a great learning experience for me."
In addition to having the functional title of database technical specialist, William recently added the corporate title of assistant vice president to his list of professional achievements. "I have always had aspirations to take on more of a leadership role and earning a Bachelor's degree through Colorado Tech Online has put me in a better position than ever to do that. My ultimate career goal is to be a database team leader for a large organization in the financial industry. The knowledge and skills I have acquired through my professional experience have given me the expertise to do so. But more importantly, my education has given me the confidence of knowing that I will succeed in a broader leadership role. Now, I feel as if the sky's the limit."
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