Deep Dive with Dr D
Discussions on life and living with Dr D. A man who has risen from the lowest depths of life to the amazing life he has now.
Deep Dive with Dr D
Career Paths are Not Linear: How I Found My Calling in Higher Education
The frustrating either/or mindset around careers limits our potential and restricts young people from finding their unique paths. Drawing from my journey through over twenty different jobs—from Subway sandwich artist to military infantryman to college professor—I explore why we must stop forcing career choices into narrow "blue-collar or white-collar" boxes.
My transformation from convicted felon to university faculty member wasn't planned or linear. After years in loss prevention and substance abuse counseling, an unexpected teaching opportunity revealed my true calling in my 40s. That first moment standing before a classroom changed everything, proving how unpredictable career journeys can be.
This episode challenges conventional wisdom about success requiring specific credentials or following predetermined paths. While education opened doors in my life, many successful people build wealth and fulfillment through entrepreneurship, trades, or climbing corporate ladders without degrees. The key isn't which path you choose but finding what works specifically for YOU.
I share insights from both sides of the educational experience—teaching online versus in-person, the similarities between university structure and military hierarchy, and how both students and employers benefit from programs blending technical and soft skills. Most importantly, I explore how creating opportunities for "luck" ultimately shapes our professional trajectories.
Whether you're starting your career journey, considering a change, or guiding someone through their options, this episode offers permission to break free from limiting career binaries and embrace the messy, wonderful process of finding meaningful work. Remember: you're capable of more than you realize.
Find me on other socials here: https://linktr.ee/davidandkatrina
Hello, hello, hello. And what will be happy Friday for when you start listening to this? I record these on Sundays and Thursdays, and so you get them on Friday and Mondays, tomorrow's Friday, today's Friday. What am I going to talk about today? Well, I asked for, I did a shout out for topics. So if you have a topic you would like to hear me talk about, or I'm going to put it out there. If you want to be interviewed by Dr D, let me know. Or if there's someone in the community that you'd like me to interview, let me know. Or if there's someone in the community that you'd like me to interview, let me know. Shoot me a message. You can email me at it's long but simple nomorefrustration at gmailcom with a topic, or you can just shoot me a message on any of my social media channels if you follow me there Really easy. If you have a topic you want me to talk about, or someone you'd like me to interview, let me know.
Speaker 1:Today I'm going to talk about jobs, careers. I'm going to share my perspective, based on which a lot of us share our perspective, as on our personal experience, our knowledge based on our education, or what we've Googled or what we find on Facebook or X I don't use Twitter, I still call it Twitter. We give our views on things based on those factors. So I'm going to give you mine. And here is one thing that I say a lot right now we have to stop the this or that. What am I talking about? When talking about jobs, I see a lot, and it's just been in the last five-ish years that there's really been this push toward blue-collar jobs. You know, you don't have to go to college and blue-collar is the way to go, and even see blue-collar wives and and and a lot of that. Right, right, and, and that is great. I was blue collar for a lot of my life. In fact, have I been blue collar more than white collar? Uh, I'm not sure. It might be about half and half at this point. Um, but we have to stop the this or that. We have to stop discounting. Uh, if someone chooses to go get an education at either a technical school, trade school, or does a full-on degree, if they want to earn a phd, let them. You know. If, if someone wants to just start working, let them just. We.
Speaker 1:You know, and you hear a lot of what I call hyperbole about, oh, schools. You know they're only promoting college and all this and that. Maybe you know what I say. I don't know. I know our local school district doesn't? They promote a lot of different things. They have different professionals come in and talk to students. They have military recruiters come in and talk to students. They have military recruiters come in and talk to students. They have schools, colleges, come in and talk to students, you know.
Speaker 1:So I think that this or that society we hear a lot of, we know this less than factual information. So my belief is let an individual figure it out for themselves, right, whatever is going to work for that person should be championed. You know, I remember. You know hearing. Well, you know, if you just want to flip burgers all your life, that's okay. Well, guess what? I know people who have flipped burgers right into owning businesses, and whether it's an individual standalone or worked flipping burgers at McDonald's and then became a manager or a franchisee at a McDonald's, guess what? They're multimillionaires now. So flip burgers right to your freaking millionaire status.
Speaker 1:If that's what you want to do, I have the opportunity to mentor students on campus where I teach, and these students are wanting to go on and earn their PhDs. These students are wanting to go on and earn their PhDs. Good for them, whether they want to become scientists or college professors or some other field, an engineer whatever it is Good for them. We have to stop the this or that. When talking about what does a young person want to do, we shouldn't be pushing any one thing, because is that truly speaking to that individual's desires? I don't know. Right, I love here's what I love doing and I want you to do more of this too. If you're not, I love just helping guide a young person to what they want to do. More of this, too. If you're not, is I love just helping guide a young person to what they want to do? And my bosses on campus may hear this and may come talk to me. I don't know if they will, but you know I teach on a college campus and I teach in IT management and we, for our degree program, we prepare our students to be what I call job ready. Many of our students get their internships and turn that internship into a job or they find jobs. Many of them are employed. Do some not find jobs? Yeah, some probably don't find jobs. Do we have people who don't have degrees who don't find jobs? Yeah, probably right. I say it's what you do for me as a college professor. This was actually what one of our one of my followers asked me to talk about what it's like being a college professor, so maybe I'll just dive right into that. I love. I love my work. This is the start of spring quarter. This is the start of spring quarter and every start to campus and I love going to the classroom or if it's online, like people always ask me the question this is one question I get asked about being a college professor Do you like teaching online?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I love it.
Speaker 1:I love teaching online. I have taught online. Our department here you go. Fun fact, our department in our college at the university was the very first offered the very first fully online bachelor's degree, and that my friends has been. I think it was before I started and I want to say it's been 17 years ago, right. I love teaching in the online realm. I interact with my students, I create videos for my students. The learning's great for students. Online is great for people who want to earn a degree or a certificate or whatever they're wanting to do to open up doors or open up more opportunities for themselves who are already working in a career. That's wow. How beautiful is that? I actually have my really good friend, jay is in school right now. He's a dad, he's a husband and he has a full-time job. Online is beautiful for him. So I'm a proponent of online teaching, but I'm also a proponent of making it a really as full an experience for the student as I can as a college professor and that goes into the design of your course and for me as a college professor, ensuring that I'm engaging with students right, giving them good feedback I do what I call weekly Monday announcements in all my classes where I talk about the work of the week and I give any feedback.
Speaker 1:And one thing and this is for Megan, because she was the one who asked me to talk about being a college professor because she was the one who asked me to talk about being a college professor One thing I am as a college professor is I'm me I'm not trying to, you know, be I don't know just like stuffy, boring, like I'm me in the classroom. And I do that same thing online. It kind of comes out through my Monday video announcements that I do for students, like I certainly talk about the work and I give feedback, but I also let them know I'm human. Like I talk about Daisy and Johnny, or like this time of year I'm going to be riding my motorcycle, I get excited. So I'm human and I hear that in my feedback from students. Every quarter, students have an opportunity to give me feedback on, you know, the learning and how the course was set up and what they appreciated and what I could do better.
Speaker 1:And what I hear repeatedly and this has been for 13 years is that Dr D is human, is that he, he's down to earth. It's not us, him versus us. They don't really say that, but I'm human and I love being human. I believe I get a lot more out of students, a lot more engagement than someone who's just not. So now I say that. And then let's talk about teaching in the classroom, physically going to campus and being in the classroom. Yeah, that's higher level of engagement. If you just look at communication, right, like where's the worst place to communicate with people? If you want to talk about heavy topics Online, right, we see the destruction that happens there. Now, I'm not saying that happens in the online classroom, but it's just a lower level of communication. You don't get as high level of connection with students in the online realm as you do with in person. So I love being in the classroom with students, absolutely love it.
Speaker 1:I teach in what's called, and this has become more normal post-COVID. Teach in what's called and this has become more normal post-COVID in what's called the hybrid format. I meet with students a couple days a week and then the rest of the work they do through the portal online. We use Canvas, our learning management system. So students come, we interact, I do a lecture, we do some group activities that happens twice a week and then they do the rest of the work that needs to be done, whether it's reading, doing assignments. That all happens through Canvas. It's a beautiful thing and students like it and I get the opportunity to see students engage with them, and then we do rest of the engaging through Canvas Online. So that's the teaching.
Speaker 1:So, and oh, I should say it was kind of accidental that I became a college professor. What do you mean accidental? Well, I went back to school later in life. I had originally went to Pierce College in the mid-90s when I was brand new in recovery. Me and my son were just talking about this. Many people in early recovery. They want to become counselors, and what I said to my son is yeah, it's kind of funny how that and that's great, that's good, and what happens? Well, some do, and then they get into the field and they go, oh this, I'm not going to be able to save the world. I might be able to save some, but I'm, you know so, or they just realize it's not a career for them. What happened for me is I went. So I had went to school to become a substance use disorder counselor, drug and alcohol counselor, and then I ended up in a whole different field. I actually ended up going back into a field that I thought at that time I would never be able to work in again because I was a convicted felon.
Speaker 1:From 1995 to 2010, I had that stigma, that moniker, that what I created for myself with my behavior. I was a convicted felon, but I actually a door opened and I ended up working in loss prevention for Fred Meyer for almost a decade. I was a loss prevention specialist and then a loss prevention manager, loved the work for the time that I did it, but then I kind of got bored and I said, hey, you know what this was in 2000, 2009. Yeah well, no, it was 2007 that I said, hey, why you know I had left. Fred Meyer went into this other opportunity. It didn't work out and so I was kind of left standing.
Speaker 1:I needed a job, right. And here's what I'm going to say to you, if you're early recovery, because this just clicked in my brain. I say this when I give lectures get a job, any job right, just get a job, just get some momentum going. I've had nearly every job you can imagine and I've worked in a lot of fields. Not every, but I've worked in a lot of fields. My very first job in the mid-90s. I have my very first resume here from the mid-90s and I keep it because it's a real positive memory for me.
Speaker 1:But I remember at this time I didn't feel like, hmm, like I have all these skills and abilities, but I needed a job any job. And so my first job was at a Subway store, subway restaurant, what do they even call them? Subway sandwich shop, I don't know Fast food. It was in Sumner Washington. It's still there and it was brand new when I needed a job. So I got a job. Did I feel internally like I wanted to do more? Not that Subway's a bad job. Actually, managers can make good monies. Frickin' franchisees can make really good money, and I actually kind of thought that I remember that anyway. But I was like, ah, you know, and I actually kind of thought that I remember that anyway. But I was like, ah, you know, I wanted to be a counselor. So I got a job any job for that period of time and I'm going to tell you something I was the best damn sandwich artist in the land while I was there. So there you go Now back to me becoming a college professor. So I did go into the counseling arena in 2007. I had earned nearly an associate's degree. I had most all of the education I needed to get started in the arena. So I went into the counseling arena.
Speaker 1:I was a trainee and my supervisor at the time was a good guy and a motivator and he saw something in me that I did not see in myself guy and a motivator, and he saw something in me that I did not see in myself. You need those kind of people around you to help motivate you and get you moving forward in whatever career path you want to go Right. I talk about your circle of influence. So at this time in my life. He was in my direct circle of influence, he was my supervisor and he said you know, I think you need to go back to school and get your bachelor's degree. And I'm like I got what I need, you know. And he convinced me and it was kind of an easy Lift for me, because I live in Ellensburg and we have this little school in our town called Central Washington University, literally right here, and I don't think to that time in 2009,. I just don't remember, I don't know if I had ever been on campus, and so you know it's a pretty good sized campus, it's literally right here. But there I went, january, winter, quarter of 2009.
Speaker 1:I went back to school and I was the 40 year old a love for learning it, you know, until that time. So I want to say this until that I had success. You don't need a degree to have success. I say that now. You don't, it sure can be helpful, right? So, and at this time for me in the counseling arena, having strong love, I believe this 100%, that if you're going to be a counselor, you need to have education. You know, are there people out there that have no education? That could be great counselors, sure, but I want someone that kind of has an understanding of therapy models, whether it's motivational interviewing, on case management, on laws and ethics right, and that's what you get in school. I think it's a good thing. So I was all right, I'll go, and more opportunities.
Speaker 1:So I went to Central just to earn a bachelor's degree. My friends, I was um in the arena, I just wanted a bachelor's degree and that would be great. I did have some thinking in my brain because I've always had the entrepreneurial spirit. Maybe I could open my agency one day, and you know that would it's viewed if you have credentials which, whether it's state credentials or national credentials or a degree, it's looked at more favorably. So I was getting close to being done with my bachelor's degree and my advisor he's now a colleague, he's still at Central he said hey, have you considered doing a master's degree? I said no, I'm not, I just wanted a bachelor's. But it got me thinking.
Speaker 1:And he says well, we have a one-year program. It was fairly new at the time and he said this is where the teaching came in the very first time. It peaked my ears. I tilted my head like Johnny the German Shepherd does, and his big old ears goes to the side. That's what happened for me, because he said this. He said well, this will be the first year we will be offering a you can apply for, and maybe get selected for, a teaching assistantship.
Speaker 1:And I went, huh, that piqued my interest because what could that do? Oh, I'm going to pause for a second. You hear that? Yeah, he's back. I forgot because I hadn't heard him. We have a woodpecker tapping on the side of our house. I have to take care of business when I'm done with this, but we'll keep going. So if you're hearing that tap, tap, tap, it's our friend Woody the woodpecker, uh, waiting for his demise in some ways.
Speaker 1:Okay, so he said, um, so the masters was like, okay, maybe. And then when he said teaching assistantship because what that does is it defers some of the costs of that master's degree, okay, and the stars were aligning, as such that the agency that I was working for, um, she was amazing. Pam was a mentor of mine, she believed in me, I was doing good work, but she was getting close to wanting to retire and so that meant she was probably going to close up the agency. The writing was kind of on the wall and if I accepted this teaching assistantship I wouldn't be able to work full time with doing that. So I said, okay, I applied, applied for the master's program, applied for the teaching assistantship. And I never, ever, will forget the very first time I walked into a classroom to give my first lecture Whoa, game on that's that. I was like I want to teach.
Speaker 1:I had been told along the way in life I've been told a couple things in my life that people believed I would be good at. One I hope you guys hear Woody, because I hear him, woody the woodpecker, he's busy. One I've been told I should be a lawyer Because I have pretty good debate skills. Two, and I actually in junior high school before, my life kind of took a different turn. In junior high school that was actually my plan was to go to law school. The other one I've been told and I didn't really pay attention to it that I'd be a good teacher. That's when it came to my brain and so then when I became a teacher, I was in my master's program, got to teach and I was like, oh, this is what I want to do. And one thing when I get something set, when I see something and I want it, I'll do what it takes, I'll work. When I see something and I want it, I'll do what it takes, I'll work. If you've listened to my life story, I hope I've said this One thing my mom instilled in us she did through the chaos is she always worked.
Speaker 1:She always had strong, my mom had strong work ethic Because she had to. She worked one for sure a lot of times, two, sometimes three jobs, and then that my brother, he's always worked my sisters that's one thing our family has very strong is we always have worked. There's only been a short period of time of my life, during my real dark days of use in the mid-90s, where I didn't work, and it was about maybe a year-ish Um. So I got that teaching assistantship and, guys, I got to tell you that I was like this is what I want to do, this is what I want to teach. So I graduated with my master's degree and I just started. I had been networking around campus while doing the teaching assistantship and doing my grad program. And doing my grad program I was also working a part-time because I could do that on campus in computer support, because that's I had self-taught myself computers and so I needed, you know, income, and so I had a part-time job on campus for geez, I think, almost two years, for, geez, I think, almost two years, I think, maybe a little more as a computer support technician. So I had skills, I learned skills, and so then I wanted to teach.
Speaker 1:Now, how does that work on a college campus? Well, at a university most universities you can teach with a master's degree, as they call them. You hear different things adjunct non-tenure track. On Central, there's non-tenure track and tenure track. Well, I had a master's degree so I could get hired to teach as a non-tenure track.
Speaker 1:So I started looking, started looking and I saw these two job postings and it was for two full-time positions non-tenure track in IT management. This was in 2012. I had just graduated, I was looking, I was and I applied. Now I was self-taught in computers. I had a computer business for a little while and then I had that recent experience as a student technician and I also had if you follow me at all, I had a lot of work experience in the managing of businesses, being a small business owner, being in the military, and my communication skills are pretty strong. My writing skills, especially, by this point, were pretty strong and our degree program, it management. We have a whole soft side skill to our degree that we teach. So I'm like I can do this, I can do this. So I applied, interviewed, got the interview and then waited and then waited. Now I went in every Thursday and just kind of checked in Friends.
Speaker 1:This is, you know squeaky wheel gets the grease. Not that it got me the job, maybe it did, I don't know. And this is a great story. I tell it to my students about perseverance. And even when you get a no because I've heard no story, I tell it to my students about perseverance. And even when you get a no because I've heard no more than I've heard, yes, remember that I say that.
Speaker 1:So finally, one day, the chair at the time, who I had interviewed with her and someone else, and they, uh, she says, well, we've made a decision on the two positions. So internally I'm like, yeah, this is going to be great, I got a position I'm going to be able to teach. And she says we did not select you for either of the full-time positions. I was devastated, internally. I wanted to cry. But I'm sitting there in this person's office. I'm like, oh my God, I needed full-time work. I needed full-time work. Right, me and Katrina were engaged. Now, you know, I'm 44 years old or whatever it was, and I'm like I need full-time work.
Speaker 1:She just told me no. But she said, and I listened, but oh, okay, what do we got? We would like to offer you one class, and that's how many people start on campus. But I didn't really know that like clearly. But I do know this that if you get a door open somewhere and you can get you in, fall into that door. And so I had been teaching in this way for another department, so I was kind of already in but I wanted in this department. So then I said she said we'd like you to teach our business writing and communication class in person. We think you have a strong skill set in that area. We think you'd be great with students. That's what we'd like to try you with if you're willing. Guess what I said? I said yes and I was like, yes, that's all I needed. That's all I needed was a chance.
Speaker 1:Well, friends, I've been teaching ever since in the same department at Central Washington University. And I look, if I look back, I went full-time teaching for a non-tenure track is 15 credits a quarter, right and it'd be 45 credits per year. Pretty sure I went full full time not technical, not like contract full time but I got two sections of another class that quarter. They needed someone in an area that I have experience in, which is a class I still teach to this day information security, ethics and privacy. I love that class. That's how I became a college professor.
Speaker 1:I got my first full-time contract, I think the next year, because this was at a time I just it's like luck. I found luck, like, yeah, I changed my view on luck a long time ago and this applies to your careers, my friends is I used to sit and be upset because I couldn't find a job or like why does that person get lucky and get a cool career? Or why does that person get lucky and they can, you know, do what they're doing? I wasn't putting myself in places where luck would go. Hey, david, I'm right here, yeah, and that's what happened here. I took that part time. Some people might've said, nope, I'm right here, yeah, and that's what happened here. I took that part time. Some people might have said, no, I can't, I wanted the full time. But I was like, no, I'm taking it, and I'm pretty sure I got my full time contract the next fall and I've been full time ever since. Full time ever since. I love the work I get to do. Now I don't just teach and then come home Like I do that, but that's never really been me.
Speaker 1:This was also at a time when our department, it management, and our cybersecurity, which was brand new really was starting to just ramp up. Like the need for cybersecurity this is 2013-14 was huge, a lot of opportunities and we had just created that degree. Specialization and just our department in general really creates what I call great graduates who are amazing employees and employers were starting to see that. So, like to this day, employers like ask we want IT management graduates. Our graduates don't just work in IT. That's the great thing. We have graduates. I think a Chrissy who works at Costco. She's a graduate of our program and wow, you're getting old Chrissy. If you listen to this, that's kind of a joke, but she's been graduated for I want to say a decade, but she doesn't work in IT. I think of Sierra she doesn't work in IT. Our degree gives you some IT skills but also gives you a whole bunch of soft skills which are desperately needed in the workplace. I've been all in for that. Now, okay, I'm rambling a little bit. I don't just teach in the classroom, I'm an advisor. I help guide students along the way for their program. In our degree program this year I'm helping mentor students in a program for students who want to go on and earn a PhD. I'm also co-leading a program for students in cybersecurity who have the opportunity to go to trainings and workshops and they have the opportunity to apply for Department of Defense internships, which can give them great opportunities in the cybersecurity field.
Speaker 1:I've been on faculty senates the governing body for part of the governing body for the university. I've been on the faculty senate executive committee. I've been on committees in our department. I've never been one in any job and this is kind of my thing. Anywhere I work, I'm kind of going all in and and again. That's that's something that in a bit comes from our family, I guess, and maybe I don't necessarily want to say my generation. Uh, but I'm, I'm there, I'm in. Do I love everything we do? No, of course not. You know. No, of course not. You know. Have I loved everything that, every business that I've worked for? Do you have also be doing something to affect change. That's me in life, that's me in the workplace. I was, like, honored and happy that I was selected.
Speaker 1:The university and we're not alone in this universities are faced with needing to change how we deliver education to our students. We need to meet the changing needs of our students and I was selected to get on a brand new entity at the university it's called the Adaptive University Council, to vet and look at new ways of doing this, and it's a really cool. I'm all for it. We have to change, we have to adapt, we have to look at things differently. I've working at a university has reminded me in some ways of being in the military. Yeah, um, the structure, uh, is can be similar, not can be. It is, in some ways, the hierarchy, like we, you know, we have a president, we have a provost, we have a dean, we have a chair, and then there's the people you know, or there's directors like, and there's a you know, reporting structure. In that way, is it different than the military, is it not? As, yeah, something for sure, but it's reminded me and it's also a government entity, right, it can be bureaucratic and layered, and that's why I'm excited for this council that I'm on, because maybe we can make some change in these areas, maybe we can say, hey, maybe we can streamline and deliver things to our students more efficiently. I'm all about that. To our students more efficiently, I'm all about that. So I love being a college professor. I love what I get to do and I feel fortunate.
Speaker 1:Like I said, I've had a lot of different jobs along the way. I've worked for Armored Car. I've freaking slinged pizza. I sold appliances. I was an infantryman in the military. I've owned businesses. My wife and I own a preschool. I owned a wedding business that I literally just said, yeah, I've had enough of that, so I closed it down. This is my first year not doing work in the wedding industry.
Speaker 1:I have, oh, yeah, I had a temporary job with the state of Washington as a bug catcher. Yeah, the maggot fly some nasty bug that gets into apples and ruins them. Yeah, I was a supervisor for bug catchers for a summer. That was a great job. I've been a waiter. I have been a dishwasher. I have been a dishwasher. I have there's a church that's still standing in Lacey Washington that I helped build. I was a framer for a little while.
Speaker 1:Uh, oh, I did roofing for just a little. Oh, that's hard work. Anyone who does that man good on you. Um, I uh what I done? Oh, I was the very first Uber driver in the city of Ellensburg, in the county of Kittitas. What else have I done? Yeah, I've done a lot of jobs. I've done physically laborious jobs and now, like being a college professor, it's a great gig. So there you go. That's what you get today. I'm going to close with this.
Speaker 1:Do your thing right Especially if you're a young person and you happen to listen to this certainly taking information from your parents, from your high school advisors, from your circle of influence, and then make the best decision for you right, because, at the end of the day, when you're working, it's your job. You're the one that has to take that on. Take that home with you, earn the money that you get during that process right, it's for you in the end, and you are capable of amazing things. Like I can tell you that there was a time in my life that just the thought that you know. Could David Douglas be a college professor? Could David Douglas be a business owner? Could David Douglas start launch and let go of an amazing nonprofit? Could David Douglas and his wife start, grow and have an amazing preschool. Nope, I would have been like you're crazy. No, you know what we can do. Whatever we set our minds to do, you have it within you to do amazing things. Love to all.