College
After working 3 – 4 jobs, even one overseas in Vietnam, I went back to college for programming at my hometown college in Oshawa.
I took 2 courses my first semester.
It was hard.
But college was different from university.
It was laid back. No one was really competing and no one was trying 200%-300%.
I was 33 at that time. I accumulated a lot of knowledge over the years and did OK. I was old.
I started in September 2017 and then finished in April 2023 for the 2-year diploma for computer programming.
I did a few detours. My boss at the computer store AMLCSL.com (Al Michael Lane) told me and pushed me to do a thinking brainy job like coding. I just wanted to fix computers at the time and open my own computer repair store.
I even went to Vietnam thinking about living there opening a computer store and possibly learn programming on the side slowly to fulfil my programming passion.
Also a detour in September 2019 studying practical nursing in the city of Scarborough.
It was during the pandemic I made the change and also I wanted to do my dream and finish the computer programming diploma I started in 2017.
During school from May 2020 to April 2023, I did quite a bit of growing things. I worked with my friend Ben Cybulski, brother in-law Simon Fisher, and friend Dmitry Nefedov, brother William Nguyen, cousins An Nguyen and An Loc. I also socialized a lot with people. Also importantly people from my same background to help me have that cultural basis to grow and reflect from. Many people from the Vietnamese background who were determined and smart.
I created things that I wanted and developed group tools with my friends. That is where I really learned. School work in college wasn’t enough to do the tests and assignments.
At this point in my life, I had things I wanted to develop and do and that helped me finish college.
My niche helped me learn programming. I developed tools in tweaking and repairing Microsoft Windows.
My niche was developed during grade school and high school. I just toyed with computers all day and it became something I liked to do. I enjoyed making the computer faster and customizing Windows.
School is easier when you are older … College was good.
When you are old like middle-aged going back to school, young social things don’t matter no more. Things like direct superficial generalizing, stereotyping and judging people don’t really matter. You can escape the labels and just do your school work and get the paper and get out.
School is mostly about generalizing and putting everything in boxes, but old age is about self-development and what happens outside, outside the school walls and outside, outside institutions.
To grow, grow you must avoid generalizations …
Going back to college at middle-age was great as you are kind of too old to deal with “young” social problems.
You are too old and cranky, you are set in your ways, you understand the big picture and that doesn’t really change. You know that to do work, you must start small and simple from the bottom. It is all hard work with no easy way out.
As you are too old, you grow thinking about mature things for yourself inside your heart, mind and body.
You need to grow or else you are held back having a mindset of an impulsive teenager. If you don’t grow, then you will be “stuck forever” as a child and you keep generalizing and don’t grow old and mature.
A kind of good thing is that young students and people in general in school do not really want to deal with you once you are “old”. You are kind of left alone and seen at a distance. People just learn from you. You emit old wise teachings and mature ways of living incorporating the past and new. People want answers from you. They want to see what life is about 10 and 20 years from now by looking at you and interacting with you.
You become a tree of wisdom …