The comment I got on last Monday's post suggested I should write a book but I'm not sure anybody would actually pay to read my story. I'm a little surprised that there are people that want to read it for free. Anyway, it's time for this week's episode.
A little over three years ago I was retrenched from the job that I had been in for almost 17 years. I was a computer programmer. Nothing fancy, just command line programs to convert data from one format into another, but it paid the bills. Computer programming was something that I used to enjoy before I did it as a job but working at it 8 hours or more a day, 5 days a week kinda took the fun out of it.
One problem with being retrenched was that, while I had almost 17 years experience, my job prospects weren't particularly good due to not having the educational qualifications. Last year I decided to do something about it and go back to college. Rather than try and get qualifications in something that I had been doing for a while I figured I should try something a little different and learn something new, so I chose to study Web Design. I figured there was a lot of that going on these days and it might help my chances of getting work if I new how to do it.
I found some parts of the course more difficult than others. Mainly the report writing. I had no problems using the software, making web pages, even Flash animations weren't a big problem but writing reports is just not something I do. In all the time I was working in IT I never had to write a report, that was done by other people. I did, on occasions, have some input into the reports being written but I was never expected to actually write one.
Part way through the second semester I encountered another problem. We had to move house. Moving house meant that I had to take time out from study to pack, move and unpack. We also had to wait for the internet to be connected at the new abode and since quite a bit of my work was online that didn't help any. As a result of all this I fell behind and found it difficult to catch up. Close to the end of the year I decided that I wasn't going to complete the course and I would pick it up again this year. I did manage to hand some work in and got a few ACs, which means that when I do resume the course I will have a bit of a head start.
I was going to go back next semester but then we decided that we were going to go on an overseas holiday this year. Originally we were only going for about 6-8 weeks so I thought I would still be able to get back to college as soon as we returned but now it has blown out to 12 weeks so I'm going to delay it until next year.
So, after one year at college I ended up with a Certificate III and half of a Certificate IV, and if I want to go on to do the diploma I have to finish the Cert IV. It would have been nice to be doing that this year but I'm not sure they offered it this year due to a lack of number last year. It would have also been nice to get to do it next year when they may actually offer it but I will have to wait a little longer.
In the meantime, I could be practicing what I've learnt so far and possibly even design my own website (and one for my wife) but I'm having trouble getting motivated and I would much rather play games or crochet. We'll just have to see if I can get motivated when we get back from holidays.
Richard.
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