Meet David Meredith – Asher College Graduate

David Meredith is an Asher College success story. A Dallas native and proud father of five, David worked in the cable industry for 13 years. He worked for all the major cable companies in the area as a service technician and as a system technician before losing his job in 2013. A month later, David made the decision to attend Asher College. David graduated Asher in June 2014 as a Computer Network Technician and completed his CompTIA A+, CompTIA Network +, Microsoft Windows 7 Operating System, Microsoft Active Directory, 2008 Server R2 Configuration, and Microsoft Network Infrastructure courses and certifications. As a result, he recently started a new position as a service desk technician at CompuCom.

David took the time to speak about his experiences.

What propelled you to go back to school so soon after losing your job?

When you work in an industry for so long, you develop a lot of relationships with other people. So after I lost my job, I thought I would quickly be able to get back in with a different company. In fact, I thought I was a shoe-in for one position. But when I never got a call from the contractor, I realized that I should start looking elsewhere and expand my horizons. That led me to a job fair.

What did you find at the job fair?

When I got to the job fair I didn’t know what to expect. What I found was that the vast majority at job fairs are temp agencies and companies that were completely out of my field of expertise. And there were a lot of schools. That is where I ran into Asher College representatives. I spoke to an instructor and went to Asher the next day to get more information.

Why did you choose Asher College?

I chose Asher because something felt right about it. I liked the closer-knit, approachable feel. It didn’t feel like a cold classroom. It was more like a family. I could speak with the Campus Director and all the instructors were readily available.

I also chose Asher because of their schedule and flexibility. I didn’t want to go back to a junior college with a set schedule and set times and days.

Describe your Asher experience?

I really enjoyed the relaxed, flexible environment. The entire staff was friendly and personal and easy to talk to. I got to know many different people at the school, some that I still talk to. I enjoyed the career development classes and appreciated all the extra things the school included to add to the experience. I liked everybody there. I never felt discouraged or unmotivated. I cannot think of anything negative about the school.

How does your new Information Technology career compare to your previous career?

Honestly, I do miss being outdoors and working more independently. On the same note, as a System Technician, I was on call periodically, no matter what the time, and had to work in all weather conditions. I had also reached the ceiling of my position and the only way I could have moved up was to enter a supervisor role which didn’t interest me at the time.

Now that I am in IT, there are a lot of different avenues I can take. Currently I am trying to learn as many different technologies as I can. There is definitely a lot more opportunity to grow. It is just a matter of getting more experience.