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Back to School

 I am back at school. When most people are at a point in their career where they are thinking about retirement, I am back at school. The first ten week term is coming to and end and I really need to study for my two finals. Instead, I am writing about my experience. Before I go into what I am doing, this post will cover how I got here and why now.

Even when I was in undergraduate school, I enjoyed teaching. I spent many hours working on the help desk and helping students with their computer projects. For one class, the professor had each student teach one class period. I learned more preparing for and conducting that one class than I ever had in a whole semester. I was hooked.

During my career I have had many chances to teach. It could have been an afterwork class on Object Orientation, C++, or some other topic of the day. It could have been teaching the newly hired college graduates during their orientation program. All of these were very gratifying.

IN the year 2000, I had the opportunity to start teaching at LaSalle University. I have been teaching Graduate Computer Science, Undergraduate Computer Science, and Business classes their ever since. In the Fall of 2023 I had the opportunity to start teaching Computer Science courses at West Chester University of Pennsylvania. There is an extremely low chance that I could go from an Adjunct at West Chester to a full time Professor. However, it requires a terminal degree and I only have a Masters Degree.

A confluence of events have made a unique opportunity became available. Because of COVID, school that was at one time only available full time in person. Because of the growth in AI and Machine Learning, there is a huge demand for people trained in this area. My preference would be to get a PhD in Computer Science. But this would be full time and take up to five years. Because of the above, schools are offering online Doctorate programs in AI and ML. When I found one at George Washington University I jumped at the opportunity.

I started January 6th 2024. More to come.

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