David McConnell

A commitment to family was U.S. Air Force veteran David McConnell’s primary motivation for pursuing a college education online at Arizona State University.

“It was critical to me that I obtained a quality education that would set me up for success to provide for my daughter, Madison, in a career field that felt right,” McConnell says.

Another close relationship also gave him motivation.

“My amazing fiancée, Josephin, was my top supporter while completing my degree program,” he says. “I hope to use what I’ve learned to give back to her.”

His life’s trajectory and being in the military have accustomed him to not being in one place for very long.

“When I started at ASU, I was living in Hochspeyer, Germany, and now live in Alamogordo, New Mexico. I’ve also lived in New York, Connecticut, Illinois, Florida, New Zealand and Australia,” he says.

His educational journey has included studies at McHenry County College in Illinois and Gulf Coast State College in Florida. His military roles also gave him extensive knowledge of aviation and aeronautics.  

“In the Air Force, I also often coded up small scripts to automate mundane tasks or make small quality-of-life improvements,” McConnell says. “Identifying an ability to turn my pet projects and personal fascination into a productive, lucrative career was a true revelation that not every job has to feel like work.”

Using what he has learned in the Fulton Schools, McConnell has been working remotely as a software engineer at a telecommunications company out of Reston, Virginia for almost two years while living near the Holloman Air Force Base in Alamogordo, New Mexico.

He’s now finding his chosen profession an inspiring one.

“Engineering is fun because it is a true blend of art and science, and nearly every problem can be broken into smaller problems — and solving each brings a sense of accomplishment and progress,” he says.

Software engineering is enabling McConnell to have a productive career along with the satisfaction of contributing something valuable to society.
  
“I have always been absolutely fascinated by aeronautics and space exploration,” he says, “and seeing the enormous technological advances made by companies such as SpaceX is inspiring. I aspire to be a part of the monumental advances in off-planet exploration that I think are critical to our growth as a species.”

Read about other exceptional graduates of the Fulton Schools’ fall 2024 class here.