Speaker: James Wofford, Technical Instructor
Introduce yourself! What is your role and how long have you been with ACI Learning?
James Wofford: Hi, my name is James Wofford and I've been back with ACI Learning for a little over a year now.
Tell us about your professional journey.
James Wofford: I just really like breaking computers. To be honest, I've been doing it for a long time. I've seen technology change throughout the years and it's really fun to try and stay with the curve, I guess you can say.
What is your favorite thing about the IT industry?
James Wofford: My favorite thing about IT industry, in itself, is the continuous innovation. I mean, to think about where we've gone or come from rather in the last 50 years. It's been fun following in the footsteps of giants.
What has been the most valuable lesson you have learned from your education?
James Wofford: The most valuable lesson I've learned in my education: We're always learning. We continue learning, just like, continual improvement. We can always get better. there's always a quicker way to do something. A more efficient way, and it's a beautiful process. It's kind of the heart and soul of IT if you will. The continual improvement, the continual learning every day. Every single day, I think I learned something new, to be quite honest. Whether it's through my own readings, through somebody else teaching, or even students. I learned so much from students, to be quite honest. They have an interaction with the material in a unique way and it's, it's nice to learn from them as well.
What's something you want students to know about you?
James Wofford: Something I want students to know about me. I absolutely love it when y'all succeed. It's hard work. I understand that this industry is very unique. In that we get out of this, what we put into it. I just absolutely love to see all your hard work pay off. You continue to grow in this industry. It is continual knowledge all the time. We're learning stuff every day and just to see students catch that fire to want to learn, to want to solve problems, to investigate. It just honestly gives me purpose. It is really a beautiful thing to see students learn and become successful and then continue to grow. It's a wonderful, absolutely wonderful, reward in and of itself.
What advice would you give to students starting out in the IT industry?
James Wofford: What advice would I give students starting out? Don't give up. Absolutely. Don't give up. Every day, you got to keep studying, stay immersed. Don't go spelunking alone. Get a buddy to study with. Every day, every day, every day, every day, every day. You got to keep studying. Start learning programming language. Get it out of the way now. Get it in there, start teaching your kids programming languages. Be amazed at how far, that can take you. That's about it. That's the biggest kick there is: just don't give up. Don't give up.
