Originally Posted by
Ultralight
What do you presume talent and hard work look like?
My classmates in graduate school did not want the first job I got after graduation, which was strategic research for a labor union. These jobs were plentiful at the time. Librarian jobs were not.
I was open to doing non-traditional information work and I was geographically flexible. So I got a $34k a year job. 3.5 years later I was up to $59k. I got several merit raises.
But my classmates wanted to be librarians proper.
When I finished high school I went to work for about four years. I worked in a factory, a warehouse, in residential construction, in pizza delivery, and a couple other lines of work. Sometimes I worked more than one job and would pick up a class here and there in community college too.
I had a very hard time in community college and at the university because I was way behind in required reading and deficient in using microsoft office and my public speaking was totally horrible.
So when I was able to get into University of Toledo at 23 I asked a professor to help me learn to use microsoft office and help me write. He helped me and I thanked him and to this day speak highly of him (even though he is a conservative, haha).
To make up for being behind in reading I would read voraciously and widely in the summers. I also checked out every documentary in the university's video library. I was watched a dozen a week or more. I need to increase me knowledge and critical thinking skills.
I managed to finish my BS, though my grade cards were sometimes a mixed bag.
But I was academically prepared for graduate school. I was awarded the most prestigious fellowship at the University of Alabama in my first year of graduate school. I was subsequently given two graduate assistant positions and an additional scholarship. I finished both my masters' degrees with a perfect 4.0.