ITS Never Too Late with Ken Maglosky
The conventional college student is thought to be someone in their early twenties, just beginning to discover the world and themselves. But not everyone experiences the traditional, post-high school higher education that has become the standard for Americans across the country.
Ken Maglosky, Computer Systems Networking and Telecommunications ’16 alumnus, began his journey in his mid-thirties. Maglosky was enrolled at the University of Cincinnati when he decided to make the switch to Ohio University. Starting out in the Russ College of Engineering and Technology, Maglosky always had a passion for telecommunications.
“Software and development were not quite my thing so at that point I went to my advisor and talked to them about the different programs offered at OU,” says Maglosky. “I read about what was offered at the McClure School and that is what I was here for.”
Before going back to school, Maglosky worked in corporate sales, but he realized that without a degree, it was nearly impossible to reach his career goals. Going back to school allowed him the opportunities to not only grow personally but to learn about the field he always had a deep interest in.
“I have seen everything from 'call me when you get there' to pagers to cell phones to smartphones to the internet of things and everything in between,” says Maglosky. “So, seeing that transformation and the future in [IT], I wanted to [become] a part of that.”
The McClure School’s hands-on professors and young, dedicated students created a welcoming space for Maglosky. The relationships he built at OU last to this day and led him to new experiences upon graduation. Dr. Hoag, ITS professor, connected Maglosky with recruiters from Sogeti, an IT consulting company, and landed him a job before graduation.
“Growing up, my father always told me ‘It’s not what you know, it’s who you know,’” says Maglosky. “What life has taught me is [that] it’s both and having those relationships with those professors definitely gave me a step into the industry that I was looking for.”
The undergraduate ITS degree allows students a wide variety of career options upon graduation, and once Maglosky secured a job in the industry, he realized how beneficial a master’s degree would be. Maglosky is currently finishing the MITS program, but the technical and interpersonal skills he has learned so far have helped him in his position now.
“What I used [the Master’s program] for was to apply that knowledge to the people that I deal with every day,” says Maglosky. “It’s hard to have conversations with technical people when you don’t understand what they are talking about.”
Along with the master’s degree, which focuses on specialized course work and projects, completing certificates and having a knowledge of the different IT platforms goes a long way in solidifying one’s place in the IT industry. For anyone interested in entering the IT industry, especially undergraduate students at the McClure School who have a myriad of options upon graduation, there are always new opportunities just around the corner.
“It’s never too late to change the direction of where you want to go,” says Maglosky. “It doesn’t always mean that it’s easy but three steps forward and two steps back is still one step forward.”
Watch Ken's interview!
The McClure School of Emerging Communication Technologies strives to offer the best academic programs in the IT (Information Technology), the game development and the Virtual Reality/Augmented Reality (VR/AR) industries. Our programs and certificates cover numerous aspects of the rapidly changing industries of information networking, cybersecurity, data privacy, game development, digital animation and the academic side of esports.