I admit that after finishing my certification for WELS teaching at Martin Luther College, I am antsy to get back into the job market. I know several calls I would have been suited for this past 6 month, but the Lord has not yet found that place where I need to be placed to be a teacher. So what is a person to do when the hot summer weather wilts the grass, the jobs around the house are simple and NetFlix is getting pretty long in the tooth?
My solution has been to assist my wife in her information technology needs, look for job openings which have teaching and technology together and change the family's eating and exercise habits. So what have I learned in the past couple months while awaiting a call into the WELS teaching ministry? Plenty of good stuff has peeked my interest and I want to share some of what I have been doing.
Towards the end of the school year at North Mahaska, where my wife works, a new wireless system was researched, procured and installed. Afterward, testing and adjustments were completed to the new Ruckus Wireless system. As far as learning goes, I was able to spend many hours watching educational videos on wireless system from Cisco and Ruckus. The white paper alongside the technical video series helped in evaluating the bids and selecting the new wireless system. Some of the topics I gained an understanding of included beam forming and how wireless antenna design affect wireless signals on mobile device in different orientations.
I have applied for some IT jobs and admittedly have found that just being away for awhile and not having experience with some technologies on a regular basis has dulled my senses and skills a bit. 18 months ago, I began studying white papers and looking at procuring some hardware and software to learn VMWare and VSphere products. After a recent couple interviews, I find that this skill set seems to be at the top of network and IT job skills to acquire.
In order to gain those hands on skills without spending $3500 for a VPC course from VMWare, it seems wiser to spend that money on a home lab to practice virtualization labs. To that end, I have watched a series of videos on topics directly related to virtualization. These include SAN systems, ZFS, Open Solaris, FreeNAS, iSCSI and of course VMWare's current product line. TrainSignal training is sitting on my MacBook Air awaiting a home lab setup.
Outside the technology skill set I continue to improve upon, I also am continuing my theology skill updates. I attended a Pastors' Institute in Omaha, NE. where Daniel Dueschlander and Wade Johnston have sessions that were outstanding. I also have been attending pastor's winkles in Ames, Iowa at Bethany Lutheran Church with our WELS circuit pastors. We have studied 1 Peter and 1 Thessalonians over the past year. My wife and I also attended the 1st annual Intrepid Lutherans conference in Osh Kosh, Wisconsin in early June.
Needless to say, I am staying focused and busy this summer. I am meeting new people and also cleaning out things in the house (my wife is doing most of that) in preparation for the future day when we receive that teaching call to a WELS school somewhere outside of Iowa.
