"What do I need to do to get myself from this point to where I want to be?" It's a question many of us has asked ourselves. I asked myself this very question when I finished the program. The frustration about the lack of traction my job search was starting to build, and I continued to bang my head against the wall. After banging my head a while, the idea finally spawned on me. It was time to go back to school.

While school isn't the end all be all solution to the problem, it is a pivot. A pivot that could lead me to where I want to eventually be. After having done extremely well in the ThriveDX program, I was ready for another challenge. Where would I go though? I was still facing the prospects of losing my home if I didn't get a job. To add to that, I didn't have much of a social life. I was dealing with a herniated disk in my lower back, and didn't go out often. A lot of things in my life weren't where I wanted them to be.

So I began to brainstorm, how will I pivot from the path I'm on? I was applying for work in Washington, Texas, and Oklahoma. Those were places I was really interested in, and it finally struck me. Tulsa, Oklahoma. Locals here call it "The Little Big City". I started to investigate their schools, programs, and possibilities for on-site opportunities.

Little did I know, University of Tulsa has Bachelor's, Master's and Doctoral programs in Cybersecurity. The programs are recognized by NSA Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense and Research. The path started to show itself and what I needed to do to get there was becoming more and more clear.