~/education
After working in industry for about a year-and-a-half, I decided that I wanted to return to education to complete a degree, since that would open more doors in future jobs. I also wanted to use my return to college as an excuse to travel, and ended up deciding on Ireland because of the many employement opportunities which are available after graduation if I don't decide to move back to the US.
While my Baylor education was almost exclusively software development focused, DkIT offers a stream more focused on system administration and networking. We have classes on scripting and configuring Linux and Windows Server systems, and the labs are equipped with Cisco gear which provides great hands-on experience setting up different types of networks.
At Baylor, I studied computer science and competed in Cross Country and Track for the NCAA team. While I was there, I learned everything from traditional software and UI development, to x86 programming and decompilation, to graphics programming with linear algebra and OpenGL C libraries. Although it isn't necessarily something I indend to pursue a job in, one of my favorite classes was our architecture class, where I built a fully-programmable computer based on the RISC-16 ISA using basic logic gates. I didn't complete the degree program at Baylor, but the education I recieved there was definitly valuable when I started work in software development and devops the following summer.
While I definitely learned a lot in the classes, the professors never had much availablity for extra help, so I think the most valuable skill I acquired was an aptitude for learning stuff quickly. Being able to quickly search through documentation to find solutions to a problem was a great help when I was working, since I was often given tasks which I hadn't had experience with and usually using tools I wasn't familiar with. I always felt on top of my tasks and reports regardless of my experience on the matter.