SANFORD - Information technology keeps your head spinning. It seems like new ways to process, store and use data are popping up every single day, along with new equipment and systems to make it all happen. 它发展得如此之快，以至于你在课堂上学到的东西为你理解原则和适应变化打下了坚实的基础, 即使你今天学到的具体细节可能很快就会过时.

That can be a real challenge for many new recruits entering the field, but not for Kevin Wind, a network field engineer working as a contractor for Cisco Systems, the multinational conglomerate producing cutting-edge networking hardware, software and telecommunications equipment. Because, 而他现在已经在思科担任了五年多的三级VSET工程师, 温德在技术革命刚开始的时候开始了他的职业生涯, climbing telephone poles.

"When I graduated high school in 1995, 我从来没有想过，在我的一生中，我会使用电脑——甚至不需要知道键盘," says Wind, 他是弗吉尼亚人，10岁时搬到桑福德，现在住在百老汇. “但后来，互联网热潮来了，我知道我的很多同龄人都去了U.S. 1 and getting great jobs. So, I said, 'Why not?'"

这个“小电话学校”最初是中央卡罗莱纳社区学院的一个职业培训项目, where students learned to climb telephone poles, run cable and install phone equipment. As the industry grew, so did the program, 后来成为北卡罗来纳电信学院，后来该学院关闭, and focus shifted to 澳门黄金城赌城 Information Technology, 在哪里培养学生在计算机行业工作所需的知识和实践技能.

Wind more or less followed the same path as the industry. 高中毕业几年后拿到电信证书, 他从他所谓的“短期小零工”开始，在三角研究园区安装PBX系统和光纤电缆. 然后，在跳槽到另一家公司之前，他在摩托罗拉对设备进行了“巡回”测试, now known as Acuative, to handle DSL installations. He worked there for almost 14 years, 随着一切的发展，安装设备和维护计算机网络.

Then, it was time for a change.

“当时我30多岁，经历了一些生活变化，有机会回到学校," he recalls. “我有一些同学告诉我在中央卡罗莱纳的社交项目，我知道我永远不会离开实地工作，除非我回到学校."

Making the Change

About eight years ago, Wind made the change, 回到澳门黄金城赌城攻读网络技术应用科学副学士学位，甚至在学院担任实验室助理. Constance Boahn, who leads 澳门黄金城赌城's Department of Engineering and Computer Information, recalls Wind because he was always helping other students, a sort of big brother in the networking group. 她回忆说:“他当时差不多到了中年，所以他不是刚从高中毕业。. “他已经长大了，可以有一些生活经验，但还没有一个完整的职业生涯. He was really dedicated."

几年来，温德设法把全职工作和全日制学校混在一起. Two years after graduating with his associate degree, 他进入东卡罗莱纳大学(East Carolina University)攻读信息技术学士学位, a degree Boahn and her colleagues encourage their students to pursue. 她说，ECU网络管理课程的设计是为了方便过渡，既可以在校园内学习，也可以在线学习, 学校接受澳门黄金城赌城的整个计算机学位作为一个学分, putting students well down the path toward a bachelor's degree.

温德大约两年前从ECU毕业，现在是思科的全职合同工，是全球仅有的10名现场技术人员之一. 当客户在使用思科统一计算系统时遇到技术人员无法解决的问题时, 公司代表向Wind和他在思科虚拟支持升级团队的同事报告了这个案例. Most of the time, they can resolve the problem remotely; other times, they'll visit the work site for a closer look.

It's been rewarding work. Instead of being limited to a narrow geographical region, Wind could be working simultaneously with customers in France, 俄罗斯或巴西——每天都有不同的人在不同的问题上. And not having to crawl through attics pulling cable. "Without 澳门黄金城赌城," Wind says, "I would never have gotten to that point."

Wind calls himself a "jack of all trades, a master of none." That may be true, 但他在这个行业的丰富经验可能帮助他取得了成功. 他说，当他试图解决更复杂的问题时，能够可视化电信机房和数据中心，了解硬件的具体细节，以及结构化布线如何从一个地方移动到另一个地方，会有所帮助. "I can visualize everything," he says. “有些学生可能从未见过硬件，甚至不知道它是如何连接的. 这对我很有帮助，能够坐在那里，在我的脑海中看到一切是如何联系在一起的."

Leaving an Impression

Though Wind tends to downplay his own success, others don't. 约翰·安斯沃思(John Ainsworth)在澳门黄金城赌城担任网络管理讲师的第一年，温德出现在他的思科安全课程上，给他留下了深刻的印象. To this day, Ainsworth and his colleagues describe Wind's success to other students, not only for his accomplishment in the classroom, 而是因为他在全职工作的同时完成了学士学位.

"The ceiling for Kevin is wherever he wants it to be," Ainsworth says. "He has natural talent and incredible resolve. 他是一个谦虚的人，可能不会想到他的名字会被用作激励和激励的工具, but we love to sing his praises."

当温德第一次决定尝试那所“小型电话学校”时，他对生物学更感兴趣. 但他必须分清轻重缓急，最重要的是要努力支付自己的账单. 作为一个刚从高中毕业的青少年，高等教育的费用似乎令人望而生畏. 花六年或更长时间在学校获得他认为自己可能需要的硕士学位也是如此.

There are no regrets. Looking back on the journey, 温德说，他很幸运能通过中国交建及其与ECU的合作获得机会. He's had some great jobs. He's had a good income. And, most of all, he enjoys diagnosing problems and finding the fix. "Danny Baker, who ran the telephony school, told us, 'Once you get into this, it gets in your blood and will stay with you forever,'" Wind recalls. "I guess it did for me."

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