August | 2013 | Rodney's Blog

So I find myself awake early in the morning on a Friday – the last weekend before I begin a new job as well as begin studying for my Master’s Degree in Strategic IT Management (for me this is a great blend between a MBA and a MSc). It’s a terrifying and exciting moment at the same time. In some ways, I feel like I should just relax – I have been through this before on the undergraduate level. But somehow this feels different. I have these emotions for different reasons than when I went for my undergraduate degree all those years ago.

In some ways it is terrifying because I will be holding down a full-time job as well as pursuing my degree full-time and I haven’t yet figured out how to balance those two things out. There really isn’t a distance/online element to my courses, which means that I may find myself occasionally having to be in two places at once during the day. Whilst I am fortunate enough to work for a company that believes in flex time and I know myself well enough to know that I am determined to do what it takes to be a success, I can’t help but feel like there will be times where I will have to bend the laws of time and physics to make things work. It’s terrifying to be amongst the oldest (if not the oldest) in my class. I attended my department’s orientation today and it is clear that the concerns of a 25 year old student are far different than one in their 30s. I think about whether my 14 years in the IT industry and 8 years in leadership roles will be of any benefit to me in my studies. I think about the little things – like trying to find a group that realises that I can’t just tool around campus on a Tuesday afternoon because I will likely be in the office trying to make my numbers. It’s the little things which I worry will become big things.

On the other hand, I am excited to get back into school and to complete the next phase of my education. It’s something I should have done 5 years ago, but life and circumstances get in the way. I am fortunate enough to have a role where I will get to influence my schedule (being a Manager probably helps here a bit), making bending the laws of time and physics a bit more possible. As an older student, I bring with me the benefit of work experience and a healthy curiosity on whether my decisions in industry and leadership have been consistent with the theory that I am about to learn. And I am also curious about when it makes sense to throw the theory out of the window.

On many levels I know that this will be hard. The fundamentals of project management will have never mattered more to me than they will over the next 2 years: plan the work; work the plan. I know that sacrifices will have to be made to achieve what I want the next 2 years, but I want to try as best I can to have as good of a work-study-life balance as possible. However, I also want to prove to myself that I can do this. I want to show my nieces and nephews the importance of education by walking the walk and not just talking about it. It’s about being competitive (I’ll be the workplace for a few more decades) and getting ready for the challenges ahead.

I think I can do this. Time will tell if I am right.

So during my leisure time I had the pleasure of visiting Croatia, which was my first time visiting the country. Since I got a really cheap ticket with SAS (really really cheap!) to Split, I decided that this would be my base camp. When I visit a country for the first time, I tend not to stay there for more than 3-5 days (depending on distance of course) because I consider it a look-see visit. Take a look and see if in the future I would like to stay for a longer time. More often than I get a good sense of the location this way.

I am happy to say however, that I only got to experience a very small part of Croatia which means that I have to plan a longer visit next year 😀

Split is one of the many islands that can be found in Croatia, many of them quaint and beautiful. During my visit, I only got the chance to visit Hvar island for the day, but based on the great people I met in Croatia and my experiences in Hvar, I definitely want to plan 7-10 days next week and stay a couple of days on different islands.

16 Years Later: A Reunion

So one of the highlights of my trip to Split was the opportunity to see a friend whom I haven’t seen in 16 years. We first met as students who participated in a summer exchange programme in France. Hilary, who is also from Boston, quickly became one of my favourite people during the trip. One of my best memories was when we were coming back from the France and due to huge delays and other travel issues, we had about 30 minutes to get our luggage and get from one part of JFK Airport (in New York) to the other end to catch a flight. Ever committed, we managed to jump across fences at the airport on the active taxiways for planes and cars and get to our flight. In a post-9/11 world I can’t ever imagine anyone being allowed to do that. 🙂 Anyway, we made our flight from NY to Boston and we managed to keep in touch into our college years. But of course, life gets in the way and we lost touch. Thanks to Facebook we got back in touch in again and as it so happens, she was travelling through Croatia with her family and was using Split as a transfer point. So after 16 years we finally managed to have a reunion. And what was years actually only felt like weeks or months. It was a good testament to the power of technology, globalisation, and a little good fortune, to enable people to stay connected.