sundance-communications.com/forum Forums General General Telephone & Systems Information a fresh start

There's plenty of help available...I just waited too long to ask for it! Now I'm paying dearly for it.

Your education is only a short part of the rest of your life, (4 to 6 years) your job/career is not (25 to 30+). A good education will help you maintain whatever career you chose. You need to do what makes you happy in your career and if its telecommunications thats great however as you have seen in several previous post the guy with the big diplomas gets hired. It may seem like a long time to finish but you just have to suck it up and stay with it; it will pass quicker than you think. You say accounting ugh what if you went into the telephone business on your own (as most of us here have done) and didn't have any accounting experience; you would have a difficult time. Many of us posting are old enough to be your parents and have already been through more that you have even thought about. Take our advice, if you get suspended get back next semester but stay in school. Good luck and keep us posted, you will find a lot of support on this board and not just on a telephone system.

If you are good enough to work on these systems on your own (your origianl post nice equipment list), quit doing if for free somebody is getting a good deal and it's not you, I can assure you most every one on this board is charging more that $50.00 per hour. Don't sell yourself short.

So you waited a long time. You'll never make another mistake in your life? Duh! Write them a nice polite letter admitting that your choices were not the best and could you come in and see what they can do to get you back on path.

Nobody worth their salt would toss that letter away.

Write a nice letter, put in your phone number and see how much better things can be. You won't be the first to make a bad choice, you won't be the last to make a bad choice, you will only be a loser if you don't ask for help now, before any more time goes on.

Open your mouth and ask or keep it shut and seal your fate, this is not all that complicated.

Stop thinking you can't do anything and go do something. I've done several things in my life that could have landed me in jail for a while, but I kept my wits about me, took advice and help, and you know what, I've never spent 24 hours in jail.

Don't come back until you have actually done something positive to get someone to help you. Go get yourself out of what is nothing more than some classes in which you don't fit. No whining, no excuses, go do something. You don't want me to bring my father's razor strap down there and teach you the old way, now do you? No you don't.

"Many of us posting are old enough to be your parents"

I hope to give you a younger perspective, I am in my late 20's and can say that I wish I had done things differenly already. Not that I have it bad but it could be better. I quit going to college full time to save for a house because I was getting married. Well that was 6 years ago, 2 houses ago and now I have a son. Needless to say I still don't have a degree.
Hang in there now because later in life you will have more commitments which prohibit going back.

I agree with the above posts. Stay in school. Work it out if at all possible. A letter and a sit down with the right people at the college can make this issue go away. If you want to be a tech after that then go for it. I got in this business with a small company with no experience (called them out of the phone book, got thier fax number and faxed my resume)At the interview I told them that I had no experience with phones. I could not even wire a jack But I sold them on my being a quick learner and "people" skills. 12 yrs later I am running my own small business. You can do the same but get your education first! Good luck,

The Telecom business is a great career path with or without a diploma . Reading comprehension skill is the most important thing in this business . Being able to pick up and read or go online and read a system manual and understand it's content will determine how far you go in the Telecom trade . Hard work and the determination to do a job well done will also carry you a long way . The ability to comprehend and the willingness for hard work is really all you need in this business . The factory certs will follow if you stick to reading/hard work . :thumb:

I'm just about to graduate from high school (June 4th!) and I am going to study Computer Network Administration (yeah, I know, an IT guy...).
However, I got my start in telecom and will always be a phone guy at heart. I started helping at my dad's work almost 5 years ago and have learned everything hands-on. You can't beat that kind of experience!

I should have said financial accounting....managerial accounting would help, financial, well, not so much.....unless I ran a publicly traded company!!

But to the point--the night my grades were posted on "e-services", I wrote a very lengthy email to the dean of academic affairs. I explained what I think caused my problems, some possible solutions, and a subtle plea not to screw me. I got a call from the University (not the same person, but someone that knows me and my issues) today. We talked for half an hour about what went wrong, and about the email I sent. Though she has no direct answers, she is on the "Committee" that makes the decision as to whether or not I get suspended. While she said a suspension isn't out of the realm of possibility, she appreciated me being earnest and thoughtful as to what my problems are--one of the big factors in being allowed back in after a suspension. She's on my side, and will present a favorable case for me when "the big moment" arrives. She also said that even if I do get suspend, I stand a reasonable chance of winning an appeal if I can stay busy this summer, create a strategic plan to "fix" my problems next semester, and use every resource available to me to get help while I’m back in St. Louis

According to this lady, the absolute worse case scenario is that I come back a semester late. Apparently they are fairly forgiving, and if I were to take a couple of classes and get it together, there would be absolutely no problem with me being re-admitted for the spring term.

So, regardless of what happens, this will not be the end of the world, or the end of my DePauw career. It truly, truly would just be a semester off to get things together.

It was also recommended to me that I work part time if I do get suspended....so, working for an interconnect may work out really well....that would definitely look better than ringing groceries at Dierbergs. I'd enjoy the work a lot better…probably pays a little better too!

Heck, maybe I’ll buy myself a couple of systems to learn over the summer so I’ll have that much more experience if I do decide to take a part time phone job.

Between everyone's responses and my phone calls today, I feel much better (boy, was I a nervous wreck at work today). Sure, I have work to do to resolve the issue, but I will survive. Thank you all very much

STAY IN SCHOOL AND GET A DEGREE !!!!!!!
You might want to look into a co-op education. There are schools that are technical in nature that actually help you find a job and send you out to work for a semester then you go to classes the next semester. This lets you try your career choice while going to school and getting your degree. You also earn money to help pay for things. Two such schools:
Northeastern University
Wentworth Institute Of Technology
Both in Boston. I am a graduate of Wentworth. I find it very helpful to have the degree.
I worked for Ma Bell for 10 years before going back to school. I saw the older guys who did hit the cap. I was there too at top money at my craft. I wasn’t happy and I noticed that most of the older guys were miserable. Also miserable to work with. I was lucky. I still had relatively few responsibilities and was able to go back to school. But as mentioned above it could be difficult to do. So keep plugging at the books and pass those subjects that you don’t like. It is definitely worth it. Work hard and don’t accept failure

Failure isn't an option...looks like I will be back at DePauw no matter what!