My family and I will be moving back to the Philadelphia area. My wife and I are both from that area, so we are "going home". This has been a shared goal of ours, and it has been realized by my wife accepting a position with her employer that is bringing us back to the area. I am in the midst of job searching. I have had several interviews and have a few more coming in the next week or two. The next month or so will be hectic but should pass quickly.
Another, and perhaps more interesting change, is my pursuit of another bachelor's degree. I have commented on taking (and completing) courses through Coursera in previous blog posts. I completed the Data Science specialization offered by Johns Hopkins University (which focused on using R) and the Python for Everybody specialization offered by University of Michigan. These were great for piquing my interest in programming. After doing a little research, I decided to pursue a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science through University of Maryland University College. They offer all of their classes online, so the move will not disrupt my class schedule much, and I am financing most of the tuition with my remaining G.I. Bill education benefits -- which would have otherwise expired in August 2018. To make things even easier, they accept up to 90 credits for applicants who have already earned a bachelor's degree! That leaves me with just the major requirements to complete the program.
The goal of this is to fill in the blanks in my knowledge and skills in a structured learning environment. I will finish the computer science program as well as a graduate program in applied economics. This will allow me to combine my interests in programming, data science, and economics... and hopefully open up more opportunities for me professionally, as well as my personal journey of exploration that I post
