ITAM master's graduate perseveres in challenging job market

Jacob Schutz never saw himself pursuing a master's degree, but after toiling away in the information technology field for eight years, he decided that an advanced degree would give him the best chance to get ahead.

The recent graduate of the CWU Information Technology Management (ITAM) master's program is still waiting for his dream job to materialize, but he remains convinced that following the master's path was the best decision he could have made for his career.

“Having your master’s degree helps you understand your self-worth in the workplace much better than when you only have a bachelor’s,” said Schutz, a native of Pasco who earned his undergraduate degree in cybersecurity from Columbia Basin College (CBC). “It helps set you apart from your peers, and I walked away from the program with a renewed sense of confidence.”

Schutz, who completed his CWU degree online in October 2023, explained that standing out in the current IT job market has been an uphill climb. Even though he feels well-prepared for the next step in his career, the opportunities in the tech sector are few and far between.

“It's really competitive out there right now,” he said. “The industry has been shrinking over the past three years, and the jobs that used to be there for people like me have disappeared. It’s hard to be optimistic sometimes when you’re getting rejection emails every day, but I feel like it was definitely worth it to continue my education.”

Schutz currently has a job in the IT field, although it’s not what he’d like to be doing. He compared his current position at the Amazon Fulfillment Center in Pasco to what he was doing out of CBC in 2015.

“I’m still doing hardware stuff, so I kind of feel like my skills are being under-utilized,” he said. “It's too bad the economy isn’t in the right place for me to put my new training to work, but I’m going to keep putting my name out there."

Schutz, 35, is no stranger to adversity, and his life experience has shown him that he can overcome any challenges that are thrown at him. He dropped out of high school in 2006, earned his GED, and served in the Army for seven years, including three deployments to the Middle East.

Upon his return, he tried out community college for a year and then invested in helicopter pilot training before eventually earning his first associate’s degree at ITT Everett. He worked as an audio-visual networking specialist at Microsoft and then returned to Pasco for a data center technician job with AWS. In the meantime, he finished his undergraduate degree in cybersecurity at CBC.

“While working as a data center tech at a company in Woodinville, I had an intern who told me about all of the great opportunities there were in the IT field,” Schutz said. “He went to Central and told me I should look into the master’s program there. Fast-forward eight years and I decided to enroll.”

Schutz explained that he didn't know how much a master’s degree would benefit him in his mid-30s, but he knew he had to do something to keep moving forward.

“I just had to get the ball rolling, and after hearing so many good things about the program from my intern, I decided to go for it,” he said, adding that he was able to take all of his CWU classes online. “I really enjoyed the program, and I’m glad I decided to take a chance.”

When he wasn’t attending classes and working, Schutz was helping a tech startup company get off the ground. The business didn’t make it, but he learned some valuable lessons along the way — many of which started in the ITAM master’s program.

“The financial management side was really good,” Schutz said. “I walked away with a whole new understanding of how to manage spreadsheets, and that knowledge showed me that the guy running the startup wasn’t doing things the right way. The training I received at Central helped me see the writing on the wall, and I decided to walk away.”

After gaining so much valuable experience over the past two years, Schutz is looking forward to the next step in his career. It may take a little longer than he originally expected, but he knows going back to school was the best decision for his future.

“The CWU program was a great experience, and I know it’s going to set me up well whenever an opportunity comes my way,” he said. “Even though the job market is tight right now, I have no regrets about pursuing this degree. I am very proud of what I accomplished.”