I have been working in Information Technology for the last 8 years mostly in support roles. Recently my employer approached me about some changes and asked me to take on a new role where I will actually get to use my degree. I earned my Bachelors in Computer Science in 2001, but the bottom fell out of the job market right before I graduated. It took me 3 months to find my first job in a Network Admin and PC support role. When things went bad there after a couple of years I moved to a Helpdesk Support position. That led me to better Helpdesk job with my current employer. I have been here for 3 years now and have taken on 3 new roles including the latest. My new role is with our development team dedicated to our asset tracking database. I am frantically learning how to use Oracle PL/SQL and C#.NET. Most of you have no clue what that is, but its okay. Just know that they are programming languages. I haven’t programmed anything outside of HTML since 2001. I feel like a student again cramming for exams. It is hard for me being back in the learning role. I like to be helpful, productive, and effective at my job. Right now I have to bother people all day to get help. That is the nature of the role right now and some days are very frustrating. It is really good when I am able to master some of the little things, but it will probably be a long time before I feel much confidence in what I am doing right now.
It has been good for me to be reminded that I must keep learning things that will stretch me. As I prayed about the job changes looking for reassurance that this would be a good move, God reminded me that I must always keep learning. I must always be putting myself in the student role because there will always be things to learn. I feel that I have done a good job of being a student when it comes to learning about God, but I found myself wanting to stop learning when it comes to the rest of my life. It is my natural desire for comfort and control. God needs me to work in the world, so I must keep learning in the world if I want to effectively serve God’s kingdom. Do you ever find yourself struggling with being in a student role?
