In short, what are you working on in your side time to move this forward? College can be an expensive (time and money) way to do something you can do with othe

In short, what are you working on in your side time to move this forward? College can be an expensive (time and money) way to do something you can do with other resources, unless the credentials are required for that career/field. In software work, I have personally found that my side projects teach me the skills I in turn use to sell solutions to clients. So as long as I put myself to learning that which I want to work on, I make ground, slowly getting paid ever larger amounts to work in the field I targeted. In your case, HP computing, probable heavy math ability? As my talent grows, I spend less time on CRUD-type stuff and more on my chosen pursuit. And in my experience, people who _do_ have more value than people who know but do not do... And I personally favor hiring someone I can teach the specific skills to, if they already have the proven background of "getting things done" (Spolsky reference).