Quick update

Being number 33 in the list of Adelaide’s top 100 tweeters in today’s paper reminded me this blog exists. So here’s a quick update on what I’ve been up to.

I’m now working on my final project before I graduate, it will be an iPad app. I can’t say much more than that.

I’m still knitting and still learning new techniques. There will definitely be more posts on this.

I’m still working at the servo. I had to reduce my hours a bit so I have time to do the work required for the project.

And that’s all I can think of for now.

Quick uni post.

This is just a quick post to mention how things are going with uni. Coming into week 4 of the semester and it’s going great!

As I said before, I met with my program director and we worked out that I should do Network Fundamentals (when I enrolled there was no networking component of the degree, now there is) in place of the last elective. On enrolling I found out there is an option to pay an extra fee and do CCNA parts 1 and 2 as well. (I will do parts 3 and 4 and the final exam next semester) This is already proving to be a great deal, as there is a lot of crossover between the Network Fundamentals and CCNA material.

Backtracking a little for those who didn’t click the CCNA link (to the Wikipedia article) above, CCNA stands for Cisco Certified Network Associate. It’s basically a certificate Cisco gives out that says “this person is good at configuring the stuff we make”. Since Cisco makes most (I’ve heard figures from 70% to 90%) of the networking hardware in the world, having this is a good thing if you want a job in networking. And there are other higher level certifications too.

Three weeks ago I still had no idea what area of IT I wanted to specialise in. Now I still don’t know what is most interesting, but figured since I’m going to get my CCNA before I finish my degree, I may as well focus on networking. It is interesting and there’s demand for it, which are two things I was looking for when I started the degree in the first place. And so far of the assessment items I’ve got back, I’ve got 100%. Sure it’s only 2% of the final mark, but it’s a good start.

2010 Projects: Work out what I’m doing with uni

I have been enrolled in the Bachelor of Information Technology (multimedia) degree at the University of South Australia since 2002. For much of that time I’ve studied part-time, but  it really is way too long and I have a really bad GPA. In my defence, I have battled depression and anxiety along the way. Also I took a leave of absence of one and a half years to work full-time and get my head together.

Friday I went to make an appointment with my program director to work out what I need to do to finish this degree. Turned out he was in his office and available to see students, so we did it then. The degree has changed so much that half the subjects I’ve done don’t even exist any more, so we spent 20 minutes working out what new subjects are equivalent to what I have done. In short, I have one subject and a year-long project to finish. But also, my GPA is so bad I have to get at least credits in those.

Also, then showing my academic transcript in a job interview will be an embarrassment. The other thing I need to do is put together an “amazingly awesome” portfolio. So I can say “I wasn’t good at uni, but I’m good at what I do”.

So my plan is:

• through January and February: do at least one tutorial a day to brush up on my skillset. My multimedia skills are very rusty after the leave of absence (I used to get Ds and HDs for things like creating games in Director, video editing, graphic design, etc.). And yes, Twitter and Facebook friends, I will bombard you with links.
• once uni starts in March: study for 2-3 hours a day to get that HD.
• start a project in semester 2 of this year. This would finish in semester 1 of 2011, which gives me an extra 2 months (summer break 2010/11) to work on it.
• look for work experience, community projects, maybe even some paid work (once the portfolio gets started) in the industry.

In short, work as hard as I was when I started the degree. This also means a lot of my other projects will now not be happening this year, but that doesn’t matter.