Full circle

 

The Most Rewarding Part of My AI and SharePoint Journey



Every career story has a quiet moment that reminds you why you started. This one is mine.

After years of helping organizations modernize with SharePoint, AI, and the Microsoft 365 ecosystem, I’ve learned that technology success stories are rarely just about platforms or data. The most meaningful outcomes are always human.

For me, the most rewarding part of this journey is not a project or a certification. It is being able to help my son.

He is a junior at Duquesne University, studying Data Science, on the same campus where I once studied Beowulf in Old English and took Shakespeare from one of the world’s foremost scholars on Milton and Shakespeare. My background was firmly rooted in the liberal arts.

Back then, I had no idea that analyzing literature and writing essays would one day prepare me for a career in technology. I chose English because I didn’t want to pick math or science like my dad, simply because I was good at it. I was drawn to stories and language, and I had a knack for creative writing. I wanted to study something that helped me understand people and ideas, not just equations.

That choice turned out to be foundational. It taught me how to think critically, question assumptions, and communicate clearly. Those skills have proven more valuable than any single programming language or software tool.

Because of my own experience with AI, SharePoint, and the broader data landscape, I can help my son shape his résumé, choose the right learning paths, and approach problems with both analytical precision and ethical awareness. We talk about data, AI, and storytelling, how insights mean little if you cannot explain them, and how the best technologists are often great communicators first.

My own journey at Duquesne almost ended before it began. There were times I wanted to quit. My mom, who had gone to secretarial school because that was the only path available to her, knew exactly how limited her choices had been. She refused to let me give up. She wanted me to stay in school so I could always support myself and never have to depend on anyone else to build a life. My dad, a chemical engineer who spent his career hydrogenating soybeans and other oils, didn’t have much to say about the internet of things. But he gave the kind of advice only an engineer would: finish your degree and get a job.

Because they kept me on that path, I built a career that didn’t exist when I first walked across that campus, one that bridges business, data, and technology.

Now, decades later, I get to help another Duquesne student, my son, navigate his own version of that journey. Watching him build his foundation in data and AI, knowing I can guide him through it, feels like coming full circle.

Technology will keep changing, but the ability to think, question, and connect ideas is what truly carries us forward. That is what the liberal arts gave me and what I hope my son takes with him, not just the tools, but the curiosity to keep learning long after they change.

It all started with words, and somehow, it still does.

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