75ZT Community

On Thurs I start my "Foundation Degree in Computer Management" at Stratford-upon-Avon college. It's a 2 year part-time course which includes Hewlett Packard accreditation, I will not only achieve an FdSc (upgradable to a BSc on a 1 year course) but also a whole bunch of HP certifications.

The weirdest thing was going for my college interview parking my ZT next to all the Saxos and the like. It was weird enough walking into an educational institution after 15 years in the IT industry with all the "kids" running around. I've suddenly felt old.

And why am I doing this? I got where I am by experience only and have just spent the last 2.5years achieving all my Microsoft & Citrix certifications only to find they aren't worth that much because a lot of the jobs I'm going for which are higher up want a Degree and I have nothing academic. It seems my technical experience is worth nothing these days because the IT market is so dry they can ask for a low salary and still get someone . I've been "at risk" from Redundancy every 2 years it feels like.

So I now have another 2 years of balancing work/family/study which although I've got good at it can be stressful. And the financial side of things means there's no trading my old ZT in for that Celestial Blue ZT-T I saw for sale Although perversely I think when you're older you actually "enjoy" learning.

GagHalfrunt wrote:On Thurs I start my "Foundation Degree in Computer Management" at Stratford-upon-Avon college. It's a 2 year part-time course which includes Hewlett Packard accreditation, I will not only achieve an FdSc (upgradable to a BSc on a 1 year course) but also a whole bunch of HP certifications.

The weirdest thing was going for my college interview parking my ZT next to all the Saxos and the like. It was weird enough walking into an educational institution after 15 years in the IT industry with all the "kids" running around. I've suddenly felt old.

And why am I doing this? I got where I am by experience only and have just spent the last 2.5years achieving all my Microsoft & Citrix certifications only to find they aren't worth that much because a lot of the jobs I'm going for which are higher up want a Degree and I have nothing academic. It seems my technical experience is worth nothing these days because the IT market is so dry they can ask for a low salary and still get someone . I've been "at risk" from Redundancy every 2 years it feels like.

So I now have another 2 years of balancing work/family/study which although I've got good at it can be stressful. And the financial side of things means there's no trading my old ZT in for that Celestial Blue ZT-T I saw for sale Although perversely I think when you're older you actually "enjoy" learning.

Best of luck.

Who was it said that education is wasted on the young?

Best of Luck

Finished my degree in '94 and then went back to UNi for teacher training in '01, so I had a similar gap to yourself.

Am sure you'll enjoy the course and hope it opens a few doors for you.

The very best of luck with your course. As you say, I think as adults we somehow enjoy learning a lot more than as kids. For some reason I have this strange yearning to learn more about mathematics, probably because at school I sucked at it and it it was the single most uninspiring subject ever... However nowadays there are things I come across and I think "darn, I remember something about that in maths, shame I can't remember what though!"

Thank you for your words of encouragement.

I would blame my lack of decent education on my working class upbringing, terrible schools (and so on, all true) but the reality is I had no interest whatsoever and "messed about". It wasn't until we moved away 4 years ago and got out of that environment I realised I had more options.

Not that I've got an axe to grind; I believe I've done "OK". I've always felt my lack of a Degree to be a downer on everything I've achieved so hopefully I'll be "righting a wrong" and as MrB said "open some doors".