I am somewhat of a journeyman career-wise. In undergraduate I pursued a useless English degree and realized that all I could do with that degree was stand on the side of the road with a sign that says, "Will quote Shakespeare for food."
To make myself more marketable I knew I needed to go to graduate school. One of my professors said to me, "You like doing archival research, you should get a degree in Library Science." While pursuing the degree I really took an interest in digital libraries and long term digital preservation. Being poor, the first job I accepted was for a government contractor as a traditional processing archivist. This gig only lasted six month as both the employer and I knew this wasn't a good fit for me.
Each job I've had since then been a stepping stone to my preparation for the Certified Information Professional Exam. I've worked as a database/information manager for a small non-profit. From there, I worked with an IT firm doing content management for online academic database tools. After a merger this position morphed into more of a requirements analyst role. Currently I am working as a records analyst as a contractor for the federal government. Also, in my free time I've managed social media for a grassroots organization.
Looking at and preparing for the CIP exam excites me because most of it is stuff that I've done and some which I've had formalized training on. Even though every step of my career path has been a bit zig-zag and not always the best connected, I feel like this will tie it all together. Since I've done so much stuff related to information management, I like to tell people that I am information manager and being certified will make me feel justified in using that title.
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