Aaaaaannnnnndddd I’m DONE! I finally graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Informatics. Somehow I even managed to get a “Dean’s Letter of Commendation for the Fall 2022 semester.” Below is my final reflection (not my final paper) from my last course, INF 499.

My experiences related to informatics have been all over the spectrum. I have run through a gamut of emotions including complete frustration with professors, the joy of learning something new, the constant questioning if this was the correct degree, the satisfaction of watching a program I wrote work the way it’s supposed to, the nagging worry that if I fail in this undertaking, I’ll never get anywhere in life, and finally the surreal realization that my journey is almost complete.

I originally got into Informatics because I wanted to get ahead in my career and get paid more. The job that I had at the time paid decently, but not enough to set me up where I could retire comfortably. To me, that gaping hole in my future was huge, and very disturbing. I knew that I needed to do something drastic, so back to school it was. It took me a bit to determine what degree I wanted, but I knew I was passionate about technology, and I knew it paid. In today’s world and society, a STEM degree is worth its weight in gold. “Over their lifetimes, graduates with majors in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) can expect to earn far more than high school graduates with no college attendance, with an earnings premium of $1.5 million over and above the $1.73 million that high school graduates with no college attendance can expect to earn.” (What’s Your Science Degree Worth? n.d.) In order to retire comfortably and not have to work at Walmart or someplace else where you don’t want to be, you have to have money saved. This saved money will allow you to work at what you want, for example working or volunteering at a non-profit because you want to, not because you have to.

At the time I worked in a clinical microbiology research laboratory, where many of my coworkers had BS, or MS degrees and in some cases, PhD’s. It was frustrating to see these folks get paid more, not because they were more competent, but because they had a higher education. So I built my résumé up, the only way I could, by investing in myself. From undertaking projects, to reading academic journals and texts to help me grasp concepts, and even taking courses which would educate me in my field, although not necessarily helping me toward a degree. It did help, but only a little, because I was still missing the key investment, which was a complete education.

This missing piece really held me back. Even my own company was not able to give me an interview for positions where I already had the experience that they listed in the position description, because of the lack of a degree. Externally, with a solid résumé, I wouldn’t get many calls back for all the positions I applied for either. And the few calls that I did get rarely resulted in interviews. One application for a position at Pfizer did result in a call back, which would have been a dream job. The interviewer and I went through the questions, and he gave me great feedback, and was really impressed by my interview and résumé…until he realized that I did not have a bachelor’s degree. Apparently, he hadn’t noticed this key piece of missing data prior to the interview, and apologizing profusely, was unfortunately unable to offer me the job. That was a seminal moment for me.

They say education opens doors, and I say they are one hundred percent correct. It does, and I’ve seen it firsthand for others, now I’m hoping to see what it does for me. In her editorial, Kathy Silverberg writes about education, that “it opens doors to opportunity, but it also opens minds to new ways of thinking…” (Silverberg: Education Opens Doors to Opportunity, and Minds to Critical Thinking, n.d.) As I mentioned earlier, I got into Informatics because I wanted to get ahead in my career and get paid more. Now that I am “in” it, I want to take advantage of the broad spectrum of knowledge and skills that this degree program has exposed me to. In one of our discussion assignments, I compared our Informatics degrees to a "Pot-luck" dinner, and if you think about any "pot-luck" dinner you’ve gone to, you understand that the dinner will be a little bit of everything. Informatics is in that same vein, a little bit of everything. It encompasses both the technical skills that people traditionally think of when it comes to computers and the nontechnical soft skills that people never associate with computers. It gives you a bit of a background in areas like technical writing, programming, requirement gathering, Ui/UX design, project management, and a sharpened ability to talk to people.

One of the classes which I found really interesting was INF 301 Emerging Trends in Information and Technology. Here we discussed a variety of topics, one of which was “Remote Work,” and “Remote Learning.” These were hot button topics at the time for the general public. Covid restrictions had closed schools and limited the amount of people who could occupy a workspace at one time to prevent the spread of illness. Outside of the technology fields, where remote work has been around for a few years, or those pursuing higher education where many students make use of remote learning, a good portion of the general public had no knowledge or experience with either one. Yet here they were, thrust into it as a result of the pandemic. While some adults and children struggled to adapt, there were many others who picked it up as if it were second nature and excelled. There were no shortage of materials at the time, and we had plenty of sources to fuel our spirited discussions. I'd imagine with the volume of data generated on remote work since the pandemic, many of us, myself included, would have to revisit their opinions and positions, and make some adjustments.

We discussed the new technologies that debuted as a result of the pandemic. One such technology was developed by Inovio Pharmaceuticals and called CELLECTRA™. For me, with a background in classic molecular biology, this was pretty amazing technology, as it was similar to a technique I and others in labs around the world performed all the time, called electroporation. Electroporation is a “physical transfection method that uses an electrical pulse to create temporary pores in cell membranes through which substances like nucleic acids can pass into cells” (Electroporation - US, n.d.) The CELLECTRA™ device uses a brief electrical pulse to reversibly open small pores in the cell to allow the plasmids to enter.” (DNA Medicines Technology | INOVIO Pharmaceuticals, 2020) A relatively simple technique used in research and university settings has been adapted to be used to deliver vaccines without the use of a needle. With a tiny, concentrated electrical impulse the vaccine is delivered through the cell membrane into the cell for processing and replication. This was a true “science nerd” moment for me, and it tied both technology and science together.

The course culminated in an eight-to-twelve-page paper, with my chosen topic being “Mobile Apps and Wearable Technology and in the fight against Covid-19.” I really must emphasize how much I enjoyed writing that particular paper, and I’m pretty sure that is something I’ve never said. It covered both my passion for technology and my passion for public health and was completely relevant to current events at the time. In a way it also provided a distraction from work, which at that time was extremely stressful, because it forced me to focus on something outside of the lab or the repetitive and depressing news cycles. If I could make a recommendation, I would request another course similar to INF 301, but at a higher level, like a 400 or 500 level course that would be added to the curriculum.

And now here we are, on the cusp of completing my degree. And what will I do with it? Well once I am in possession of the paper copy, I plan on including a copy of it in a trio of thank you notes to some individuals who continually pushed me to go back to school. As for the actual degree itself? Well, to be perfectly honest, I have no idea what I am going to do with it. I definitely am going to apply for a position that I couldn’t get an interview for prior to my degree within my company, just on principle. And after that, well, then I guess I will see what is out there. I have been scanning LinkedIn to see what kind of jobs are available for someone with my laboratory experience and my education (that statement sounds weird when I say it because it was never anything I could say). I also have been looking at positions and companies that don’t fit within my laboratory experience or my degree.

Outside of that, I think for now, I will just sit back for a bit, enjoy some down time, and let this whole process sink in. Covid changed a lot of things for many of us, and I am no different. Things I valued prior to Covid, aren’t quite as valuable, and things which had little value, suddenly hold more value.

I wanted to close this paper, quite possibly my last paper ever, with an inspirational quote, but instead I will close with the last stanza from a poem by one of my favourite authors, William Butler Yeats. “I will arise and go now, for always night and day, I hear lake water lapping with low sounds by the shore; While I stand on the roadway, or on the pavements grey, I hear it in the deep heart’s core.” (Foundation, 2022)

References

What’s Your Science Degree Worth? (n.d.). Retrieved November 28, 2022, from https://www.science.org/content/article/whats-your-science-degree-worth

Silverberg: Education opens doors to opportunity, and minds to critical thinking. (n.d.). Retrieved November 28, 2022, from https://www.heraldtribune.com/story/opinion/columns/2016/12/15/silverberg-education-opens-doors-to-opportunity-and-minds-to-critical-thinking/24247224007/

Electroporation—US. (n.d.). Retrieved November 29, 2022, from www.thermofisher.com/us/en/home/references/gibco-cell-culture-basics/transfection-basics/transfection-methods/electroporation.html

DNA Medicines Technology | INOVIO Pharmaceuticals. (2020, February 21). https://www.inovio.com/dna-medicines-technology/

Foundation, P. (2022, November 29). The Lake Isle of Innisfree by William Butler Yeats (https://www.poetryfoundation.org/) [Text/html]. Poetry Foundation; Poetry Foundation. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/43281/the-lake-isle-of-innisfree