Earlier this week I got a call from one of my former students - in an earlier life I spent 10 years as a professor of information systems - who wanted to talk to me about how to give her career some new life. She had a computer science degree at bachelor's level, and had worked as an applications programmer for some seven years, but she had not worked for 4 years - she now has two children - and she needed to think about how to go back to work.
Of course, after 4 years she needed to polish up her skills, but as we talked it was obvious that she wanted to explore other aspects of computing, and felt that her programming days were really over.
I suggested that she consider studying an online computer science degree at graduate level. She needs to talk to a computer science school - or better still, several computer science schools - to see how she could incorporate courses in her study that would update her present skills, and add to them. I'm sure that any computer science school would recommend that she study information systems and systems analysis, and they would probably have some other new ideas to add.
I'll keep you updated to see what the results are.
This week I am busy with work but I decided that I had to get ahead with my online accounting course. One of the best things about doing this course is that I tend to do my best work early in the morning, and provided I start at around 7, and can get myself out of bed and ready before this, I find that I can concentrate well.
This morning I managed to get to my desk and start by 6.50am, and I have to say that I've worked through more of the course work in 2 hours than I managed in 4 hours last week. I finished the module notes, and powered through the major assessment exercise which I sent off. A short break for coffee, a walk round the block and back to my desk to work for my living.
I'm a bit anxious about the results of my assessment, but hopefully my tutor will do a full analysis of what I've done, and where I'm going wrong. I have to say that provided I can keep the willpower going, I think I prefer studying online than in the classroom!
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