Jay McTyier, program analyst for the Registrar’s Office, has taken the road less traveled by pursuing careers as the opportunities arose.
“As things have presented themselves, I’ve taken that particular turn,” McTyier said.
Growing up, McTyier’s family moved a lot due to his father’s job at Dupont, a company that uses science to create a safer and healthier way of life.
“I think that’s why I never have the kind of person that says ‘Don’t get too wed to a path’ because you never know what’s going to happen,” he said.
When McTyier was 7 years old, his father was transferred to a small town in the British sector of North Germany.
He attended a British boarding school for middle school as part of a deal Dupont had with the British Armed Forces.
After high school, McTyier went to college as an English major at the University of San Francisco. He said he had always been interested in art, so he got a bachelor’s degree of fine arts in illustration.
“I stupidly moved to Los Angeles at the time,” he said. “I didn’t have any contacts in Los Angeles, so that was a life lesson. Don’t move away from where you have contacts when you’re trying to start a new career.”
To make money while living in Los Angeles, McTyier picked up a job as a temp at Verifone, a company that deals with payment technologies, such as ATM machines, in California. He stayed there for 11 years before being transferred to Kentucky and then to Florida.
McTyier said he left Verifone after moving to Florida and wanted to get out of the Verifone business.
“There was a law school in my backyard, so I went to law school,” he said.
While in law school, he was chosen to work as an intern for the Department of Homeland Security in customs and immigration enforcement.
Even while switching jobs, careers and degrees, McTyier never let go of his passion for art or writing. He continues to paint and has taken up quilting. He also writes memoirs and essays about his life experiences and lessons, as well as promote his work on Facebook.
McTyier eventually moved back to Kentucky in 2008 due to the poor economy in Florida. He attributes his experience with Verifone as part of why he got the job at IU Southeast. Verifone and PeopleSoft are used as software for Onestart and Oncourse.
McTyier said he likes the twists and turns of his life path.
“I haven’t necessarily reached that level of financial success, but it’s been a great adventure,” he said.
By AMANDA
CHIAMULERA
Staff
alchiamu@umail.iu.edu