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Frank Hughes always loved playing around with computers.

“I am a computer geek,” the 44-year-old says with a laugh. “It started in 1983, in high school, when I was introduced to the Apple II, and I immediately jumped right in and fell in love with it.”  

Playing around with computers was a fun hobby, but Hughes didn’t really consider it as a future career. When he graduated from High Point Central High School in 1984, he went straight to work.

“I wasn’t really ready for college,” Hughes says. “I was a late bloomer and I wasn’t mature enough for it.” 

Instead he worked as a bartender in several Triad restaurants, sold cars for a while and finally settled into the roofing business. All the while, he tinkered with computers, and people soon began coming to him for help with their own computer problems. After nine and a half years as a roofer, the married father of two young daughters started to worry about the physical toll the job was taking on him. He also wanted to find work that was more fulfilling.

“I was happy in life, but not happy in my career,” Hughes says.

For years his family had been urging him to look into the computer field as a potential career. After talking to a nephew who had attended ECPI College of Technology, Hughes decided to find out what the school offered.

He didn’t look any further. 

“I found exactly what I was looking for,” he says. “The classes fit my schedule and the curriculum was exactly what I wanted.”

Hughes enrolled in ECPI’s network security program in 2004 to earn an associate degree in applied science. Adjunct professor Robert James describes network security as “protecting the transfer of information when moving it from point A to point B.”

Network security jobs are expected to grow faster than average for all occupations through 2018, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. One of the benefits of the network security field is its flexibility — graduates can work in a variety of jobs from network administrator to security analyst. Salaries vary depending on the job and geographical location, but typically start around $30,000 a year, James says.

Hughes knew network security would offer him good job prospects upon graduation, but in the meantime he had a family to support, so he needed to work full-time while in school. Classes are typically held 8 a.m.-1 p.m. Monday through Thursday, but ECPI also offers a wide range of classes a night. Hughes took his classes from 5:30-10:30 p.m. twice a week. ECPI’s schedule enable students to complete an associate degree faster than at a community college, school officials say. Full-time students, who typically would finish in two years, can earn the degree in 18 months. Full-time status consists of two classes per term, or six credit hours.

Hughes also liked the program’s emphasis on experiential learning. It combines classroom study with time in computer laboratories that use virtual office networks. “ECPI has an environment that is perfect for hands-on learning,” Hughes says. “My first week here I was opening up a computer and installing memory.”

After being out of the classroom for 20 years, Hughes says going back to school wasn’t easy.

“My biggest challenge was the general education courses, like algebra,” he says.

Pam McMillan, director of career services, says students are required to take at least 25 percent of their required credit hours in general arts and science coursework. Network security students take about 22 credit hours in general education courses, she says.

The small classes, often made up of only eight to 10 students, worked with Hughes’ learning style.

“I could ask every question I could think of and got all the information I could get out of my professors,” he says.

Hughes graduated from ECPI in February 2006. Although still employed as a roofer, he started looking for a job in information technology. In July of that year, ECPI hired him to work nights as a network administrator. In 2007, he was promoted to ECPI’s director of information technology, where he “plans, installs and supports technologies used by students, academic and administrative departments,” he says.

“I am in my dream job now,” Hughes says. “I love dealing with people face to face and understand what students need.”