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Along with keeping up with the course and managing to get 100 % on my last assignment. On 3/5/07 my wife gave birth to our 3rd child. Today, I have single handedly configured 2 Cisco Wireless Bridges for a customer of my employers. The wireless bridges needed to be configured so that the SSID was hidden (i.e. not broadcasted so that a wireless Network Adapter could pick it up). Both bridges needed an indentical 128bit WEP Key. They also needed to be configured so that only my employers could gain remote access to each bridges console. I have been studying for about 3months now and although I can only commit to once or twice a week due to work commitments. I have still learned so much more in that time than I did in 2 years at Uni . Since I started the course I knew nothing about the mechanics of a computer but in the past couple of weeks I started to encounter problems with my cpu and I have now solved and rectified the problem. After a long break from studying I decided it was time for a change. So when I found student world I thought id give it a try . getting back into studying wasnt easy at first but I found that by picking up my folder for an hour a day that the course started to get easier. by increasing this by another 15 minutes a day I managed to complete my first part in a month of receiving the course material. this means that I am now only waiting for access codes for the next tma thank you very much to skillstrain for giving me this oppotunity and let me tell all the other students out there I work 12 to 17 hours a day as a taxi driver at the moment and am looking forward to a new career at the age of 46 keep going you can do this..... I have achieved 100 per cent in two of the three Tutor Marked Assignments I have submitted in April, in the N+ Part A part of the course, with the other Assignment still waiting to be marked. I have completed all the assignments of the very well organised series of courses. A friend of mine wanted to upgrade his PC to a duo core processor. He bought a new motherboard/processor package and a 1MB graphics card. Thanks to what I've learned from the first few sections of the course I was able to install his new motherboard/processor and correctly connect all the power/signal lines on both the motherboard and then the graphics card. I then helped him install windows Vista. His PC is working brilliantly (his words) and I'm pleased that only a few weeks into the course it's having an impact already. Its absolutely fantastic form to have scored 100% mark on TMA 20a & 20b.I punished myself over Easter hoilday to study hard and thanks to my tutors for all the help. I have managed to keep up with my coursework and achieve good results which has increased my confidence and determination to complete the course. A recent change of job has thrown me a bit, I now work nights which I have never done before and it takes a little getting used to, so keeping up with the studying can be tiring as my body clock is still adjusting. Also my 18 month old nephew recently had open heart surgery to correct 3 problems with his heart. It was tricky but successful and is now crawling around like a good 'un! I think my biggest achivement would be starting the voluntary organisation I run, It's called Ladywood youth and youth and I started it from scratch. I work with young people for example, I have a local football team, I have a young dads and lads group and although my career is destine to be with computers, I still enjoy working with the young people. To have the chance to do so in my own community is my best achivement to date. I've just completed my 7th TMA for April - this is not the normal pace but as I must complete the exams in JUNE I've had to step it up. Normality will resume after that time. My wife and I decided to move 100 miles away from the city where we both grew up, to give our children a better life near the coast and also to be nearer my parents, as my dad had recently suffered a heart attack. It was a big decision as we would be leaving all our friends and family behind not to mention our jobs. Once there, I discovered that it was easier to move than find a new job; they are all low paid for unskilled work in this part of the country. All seemed lost and this better life that we hoped to make for ourselves and the children was slipping away from us, until one evening whilst watching t.v I saw a advertisement for a computer course with Skills Train, maybe this is the direction I should take I thought to myself. I got intouch the next day and a date was set for someone to come and see me, the gentleman who came was very pleasant and informative about the company and the course. We had a good chat about what I had done and what I wanted to achieve, there was a short test and it was decided that I would start the A+ Hardware & Maintenance course in December 2006 and that it usually takes about 12 months to complete, although you can take longer if required. Even though it was all arranged I still has a niggling feeling in the back of my mind as I have tried college courses before only to find it was not for me or that I didnt have the spare time due to commitments, to go to college and to do the homework required to keep up. Anyway I set this aside and remained positive, when the first part of the course arrived I was relieved as I was able to understand what I was reading and was able to study at my pace. On the return of my first TMA I got 98% which gave me a great boost, so all guns blazing I set out to finish the course as quickly as possible but without skipping anything as this would defeat the object. Unfortunately a couple of months into the course my Dr diagnosed me with a progressive hearing disorder that affects my balance and concentration at times amongst other things and eventually I May lose my hearing, but knowing that my 5 year old nephew Ryan is in St James' hospital being treated for a rare form of kidney cancer of which he has never complained, who am I to grumble and feel sorry for myself! I am now nearly 5 months into the course with many 100% results to my name and I have just got to send in my last TMA for marking and the A+ course is finished but I am not! as I have found something that I enjoy doing, so I will carry on doing courses and leaning as much as I can. I have also been able to give advice to friends and actually fixed and upgraded my dads computer where 5 months ago I would have had no idea at all where to start.I would like to take this opportunity to thank the tutor team as it is good to know that help is only a phone call away and to Skills Train for having a course that you can fit in and around your daily life and for giving me and my family new hope for the future, you never know we May even have our own business one day. All I know is that I will try my best to be successful on the training I have been given and to make my family proud. My advice to anyone just starting the course would be try to remain positive even if things get difficult, and if your thinking about quiting 'DONT'! just think about the goal you set yourself at the beginning and not just the rewards you will reap but also about how great you will feel when you finally finish.
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