Jason Suire小蝌蚪APP檚 resume lists titles like IT coordinator, systems analyst, and his current role as cyber security engineer. But that wasn小蝌蚪APP檛 always Suire小蝌蚪APP檚 projected career path.
As a teen, Suire had an inclination toward computing, but his passion was creative writing. So, when it came time to declare a college major, Suire went with his passion.
小蝌蚪APP淚 originally wanted to go into computer science, but in my senior year I decided to choose English,小蝌蚪APP he says. 小蝌蚪APP淚 kind of fell in love with creative writing.小蝌蚪APP
Suire earned an English degree from the 小蝌蚪APP with honors in 2016. He soon found his career interests leaned more tech than Twain, and he accepted a position as IT coordinator at UL Lafayette.
Reconfiguring
Returning to the 小蝌蚪APP put Suire on track to another goal: earning an advanced degree. The master's in informatics turned out to be the perfect conduit to bridge Suire小蝌蚪APP檚 undergraduate degree and his career aspirations.
The M.S. in Informatics 小蝌蚪APP offered on campus and 100% online 小蝌蚪APP isn小蝌蚪APP檛 restricted to students with undergraduate computing degrees. Students who meet Graduate School admissions requirements can apply with any accredited bachelor's degree. 
小蝌蚪APP淔or some computing programs, the level of access is high coming from a non-technical academic background, even though I built a lot of those technical skills in my career,小蝌蚪APP Suire says. 小蝌蚪APP淚nformatics was accessible and applicable to a wide array of skill sets.小蝌蚪APP
Students accepted to the program complete courses in data analytics and visualization, network security, database management, data mining, cloud computing, web application development, and process analysis, among others. Students also have the opportunity to take elective courses in other areas, like those in the B.I. Moody III College of Business Administration MBA program.
With the critical thinking skills honed through his liberal arts degree, Suire says the informatics course material was very manageable. His biggest challenge was adjusting to the project format.
小蝌蚪APP淭hey weren小蝌蚪APP檛 so much writing-based as, say, building a product plan and implementing it,小蝌蚪APP he says. 小蝌蚪APP淚 had to analyze an organization, find areas where they could improve, build a plan for them, build architecture documentation. That was pretty foreign to me.小蝌蚪APP
Diving into Data
Suire says the data science courses in the program were a natural fit with his affinity for statistics and provided a springboard for future opportunities.
小蝌蚪APP淚 especially love data science and data analytics because that's applicable to any field you go into,小蝌蚪APP he says. 小蝌蚪APP淚f you go into, say, political science, the statistical background and the procedural learning background is extraordinarily helpful in setting up strategies.小蝌蚪APP
Having those identified interests allowed Suire to guide his coursework to get the most from the degree personally and professionally.
"I gave myself, two or three fields, including cyber security and cloud computing. It turned out I really loved data science, so I focused on that with three independent projects and data science courses to get that foundational learning and really ground in that skill set,小蝌蚪APP Suire says.
小蝌蚪APP淚 think if you go in at least with the intention of finding a field you can really focus on and talk to professors, they will work with you to figure out what you need to tackle.小蝌蚪APP
Suire completed his degree in December 2019 while working full time as a systems analyst with the 小蝌蚪APP. In January 2020, he accepted a position as cyber security engineer with international IT and business consulting firm CGI. He now works with his team to ensure data is processed to accurately identify clients小蝌蚪APP risks and weaknesses.