Officially a student again! :)

[d0pefish]

Hey guys,

Thought I'd drop in and post an update as to why I've been quite quiet recently. Some of you already know through emails and PMs what my plans were a few months ago but I've had a few people contact me and it's time to start posting again

Basically I've lived and worked in Bristol for 4 years as an IT manager - I took the job through a friend - which I have enjoyed a lot, but it got to the stage where I couldn't forsee any career progression due to the nature of the company, the fact I was unqualified (yet no less capable), and that I was getting tired of the whole situation. I am a fairly technically minded person; I love tinkering and getting my hands dirty, so I was getting a bit bored of spending every day trying to nurse people through MS Office crashing etc.

I've had a few pretty bad experiences in Bristol, the worst being that I got burgled (lost laptops, consoles, games), and a motorcycle accident thanks to someone opening a door without looking. Without any friends or family nearby it's safe to say I've been pretty miserable, to the point of being full-on depressed.

I'm one of the people that suffered the lackluster "ICT" A-levels at school in the mid 2000s; the whole idea that Word, Excel and Access was what IT consisted of, which is why I quit after a year of AS and decided to do something useful with myself and work. With no exposure to the real technical side of IT I left school with no real direction.

Because the job was the only thing keeping me in Bristol, last year I decided to re-evaluate everything. After the massive expense of renting and paying bills, I wasn't taking much home despite a decent salary, and it got to the point where I saw no future down there. In my spare time, I started learning some C and 68k assembler, and realised that programming *really* interested me.

So now I've moved back home to Newcastle-upon-Tyne to be with my family and friends, who I have sorely missed after 4 years of being away. I've secured a place at Newcastle College to make up for my missing A-levels - so in September I'm starting a Science & Engineering Diploma which is an Access course that lasts a year, and the end goal will be to start a degree in Computer Science at University in 2013.

With all the stress left behind I now have more time to concentrate on my future and what *I* want, and it also means I'd like to start helping AmiBay members with their hardware issues again, as I should have more time in between my college work.

So, apologies for being quiet over the last few months - I've been right in the thick of moving and getting myself set up again - got a little bit of catching up to do but I'm now in a much better state to get involved again.

Thanks very much to those who have been supportive and understanding as I made the move, especially roberthazelby who sent me off with an awesome final meetup! People like Rob made it easier to cope in a situation that was really wearing me down, both psychologically and physically - so many thanks mate.

Cheers!

 

[johnim]

congrats and welcome back

 

[Templar]

I wish you all the best in your new-student life mate.

 

[TheCorfiot]

Best of luck Dopefish.... happiness counts big time.

And I have to say Rob (hazelby) is such a lovely guy too, he did say he would miss you when I met up with him...

All the Best

TC

 

[Tajmaster]

Glad everything is on track for you Dale! Youre a superb chap a total gentleman, I wish you the best in your new vocation

 

[DutchinUSA]

That's my happy story for the day mate !

Thanks for that !

Fed up with the fact that society expects kids to know at age 12 what they wanna be when they grow up. That system is so obsolete and doesn't work for a lot of them (I know it never worked for me, that's why I ended up going back to school in my 20's).

The years between 12-18 should be filled with some work experience, see the real world, internships at different places etc etc

Anyways, that's my little rant

 

[wangerman69]

Students tsk.....


Drunken layabouts


Kidding

 

[cosmicfrog]

all the best dude

No piece of paper can make up for not knowing something

only problem with Uni is it gets you into debt

 

[AmiNeo]

Students tsk.....


Drunken layabouts


Kidding

You'd better be




Welcome back to Amibay and the Student fold mate Started on a comp science degree myself last year, year 2 commencing in September

 

[d0pefish]

Thanks very much all!

And I have to say Rob (hazelby) is such a lovely guy too, he did say he would miss you when I met up with him...

Hell yes. I will miss him a lot too, hopefully we'll meet again at some point, maybe one day we can get to one of the Amiga or scene meetups.

Fed up with the fact that society expects kids to know at age 12 what they wanna be when they grow up. That system is so obsolete and doesn't work for a lot of them (I know it never worked for me, that's why I ended up going back to school in my 20's).

The years between 12-18 should be filled with some work experience, see the real world, internships at different places etc etc

Oh man, totally. My school years were some of the worst of my life, I'm sorry to say. I have a lot of resent for that place, it was rubbish. Very old-fashioned in what they taught; they were very behind on technology-related subjects, and I must have ended up staying in touch with like, 3 of the people I went there with. The whole experience did my head in, I was glad to leave.

And I guess that's what put me off education, until now, where I realise that if I'm going to try and work in the IT field in general, in a sea of qualified-to-the-hilt people, I stand no chance - my vocational experience only goes so far without industry-recognised certification. Even so, it's not what I want to do, technical support or management. This is a career change too - from what I've seen from other areas of the company I worked for, there was a substantial lack of UK software developers, so I am hoping I can help fill the void.

Welcome back to Amibay and the Student fold mate Started on a comp science degree myself last year, year 2 commencing in September

Oh awesome! How are you finding it so far?

Thanks again for your kindness guys.

 

[tokyoracer]

This invites me to your pad for a sheer booze up. I hope you don't mind me 'inviting' myself?

Serious congrats though!

:drinkin:

 

[wangerman69]

Gotta to be honest with you all I couldn't wait to leave school didn't even think about further education

Finished school for good on a Friday started work on a building site the following Monday aged 16

 

[Paul_s]

Best of luck with the new adventures Dale, hope everything pans out for you!

 

[Retrograde]

Sounds like a good move - a solid diploma never hurt anyone, especially when changing workplaces, which you most probably will do a few times over the years. Good luck to you!

 

[ad-rs1600i]

Very well done - work hard and make it work and it will be the very best personal development decision you ever make I believe

If you're passionate about it, you'll do very well indeed - being passionate about the subject matter is half the battle with any course I believe

Go for it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[AmiNeo]

Well since my first 2 years are at a community college and my final year is at Chester uni, I'm enjoying it but dont feel Im getting as much out of it that I could be on the programming front. The lecturer doesnt give lectures and half of the students act as if theyre in secondry school. That said, I'm enjoying the material a lot, even if I'm having to self teach on the programming until my final year. The web and google help an aweful lot though!

 

[rkauer]

Welcome back, Dale.

Success in your chosen path!

 

[status]

Congrats dude, erasmus the hell out of it and you wont miss

 

[d0pefish]

Well, we're coming up to a year since I started this thread!

Where the heck did the year go?! :nuts:

I have now completed my Access course - assignments all graded, just waiting on exam results, which I'm pretty certain will be where I want them to be.

Despite being out of education for about 8 years, I absolutely trounced the course. In November I was (according to one of the lecturers) Student of the Month, and somehow I was getting the highest scores in the year in the Physics assignments and Unit 1 exams(!) :wooha: I have heard from someone in email contact with the lecturers that I got the joint highest result in Physics for the final exam.

Maths Studies has also been VERY enjoyable, mostly because we have had such amazing lecturers at Newcastle College. The last time I touched Maths was when I scraped a B at GCSE, and that was it. We have *flown* through so many topics, ending on some pretty challenging Calculus stuff, which I'd never seen or heard of before - but we have been taught so well that most of us got very high grades. Again, I was in the high 90s, percent-wise for the Unit 1 exam

At first, it may have appeared as a waste of a year, or unnecessary, but having done it I can honestly say that it was one of the most enjoyable years of my life. It's gotten me back into the routine of essay-writing, completing assignments by certain deadlines, group work and so on. I met some really good friends, and some will be joining me at University in September on the same course!

I ended up running an extra IT class for those who were struggling with the programming bits - the college actually asked me to do it! We had a completely mixed class of all ages with different experience and for some it was the first time they'd worked with a computer in this way, so it was nice to be able to help and even better to see them approach the tasks with more confidence.

Overall, the whole experience has boosted my enthusiasm for studying even more, and now I am itching to go to University. I have a conditional place at Newcastle University for a BSc and Masters in Computing Science, and I already know that I have smashed the conditions to pieces - I'm as good as there. Just waiting for the results and certificates to come through so I can give them to the admissions department and have my place confirmed.

Anyone thinking of doing one of these Access courses, I'd say go for it. It's intensive, but definitely doable, and most of the Universities really like them as qualifiers.

Meanwhile, it turns out that the company I worked at is almost nonexistant now. The MD was made redundant, if that sums up how bad things were going. It was a very wise decision to get out while it was easy to do so.

I hope everyone here is doing well - sorry to have gone quiet, but cracking on with college has really paid off. Though I have been visiting occasionally to respond to the odd PM and see what's what.

I haven't really done any interesting retro repairs recently, but my usual humdrum PC fixing/office stuff has been continuing in the background

Currently, I'm working on my car - just about everything to do with the handbrake is bust so I'm swapping parts and renovating it, which I quite enjoy

Nice to see everyone's still here and regularly active. I think my Amiga fixing stuff is going to start up again soon, so I'll be sure to get something posted if so!

Cheers!

 

[Jazzmarazz]

I have a bachelors of science in IT and cannot find a job for the life of me. Damn US.... what I meant to say was good for you. As soon as I get the chance, I am returning for a masters in elec/industrial engineering. At this time, I would be happy to walk people through Ms word.