I have just restarted the course after a 2 year break. in that 2 years I have been divorced, re-married and bought a new house. The last experience I have had with studying is 27 years ago while at school. It has taken me some time to get back in the flow and trying to allocate time to study. Since restarting the course I have managed to repair and rebuild an old computer for my kids to use for their school homework. I saw an old PC but it is a Dell P4 that was being skipped by my employer. I managed to purchase new Ram and Operating system. I formatted the origional hard disk (One of the proviso's for having the PC) and upgraded the RAM from 512Mb to 1GB and reinstalled Windows XP. I also connected a wireless router to the PC and connected it to the Internet for my kids. Thanks to SkillsTrain I can now do this for my kids, which means a great deal to both me and them.

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Before commencing this course I only knew few things about I.T. but now I know things that seems like something I can never understand.
Regarding my job and family demand, I thought I might not be able to cope but perform excellently in my TMA01.
The course has open my eyes to hidden treasures in I.T.

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I have been refining my studying methods and as each TMA gets harder and harder I still manage to get above 90% and I just know that through effort I will keep it this way! I knew a bit about PCs before I started, but now I know a lot more than I could ever have imagined existed.

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I've recently been diagnosed with Cancer (Chronic Myeloid Leukaemia) after a regular Eye Test which came as a big shock and very divastating. Im only 29 years old and I thought I had this massive life ahead of me but now its going to be a touch and go. I was meant to go for the second interveiw with a local I.T company but all that has gone out of the window. I've been going through a series of tests and awaiting to undergo chemotherapy which I hope I will respond well to.

I hope I will have less severe side effects to chemotherapy so that I can finish my CCNP and have a long normal life. If you have a chance to read this note, I advise you all to go for regular Blood Tests/Tests so that any irregularities would be diagnosed/picked up early. Sharing this with all of you makes me feel better and wish you all a healthy life. Many thanks to Skills Train for granting me more time to finish my course.

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Secured a promotion to Communications Engineer with my employer. Have been given the task of designing and overseeing the installation of a full network system in a New High School that we are in the proccess of building. The CCNP course, and my results, which I was able to show on-line was the main factor in getting this chance.

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I am really enjoying this course so far and have learned so much already, although finding the time to study can sometimes be challenging. I am working full time on minimum wage at the moment in an environment where the scenery never changes and redundancy is always lurking around the corner. Due to my poor wages I am still living at home with my family, which isn't the worst thing in the world but being able to afford a place of my own would mean the world to me. I never seem to have much spare time, but most of it seems to slip away on helping other members of my family. My sister is due to be married in September and alot of the responsibilities have been shared out between us and I am also a bridesmaid. My younger sister has just given birth to a little baby boy, so with this and my older sisters wedding coming, our house seems to be constantly filled with visitors. This is not a good thing when they are waking me up early in the morning after I have just worked the night shift!
I have always had a huge interest in computers but never really had the option to learn more about them as there were no IT orientated subjects of study at school. I have also found over the last few years that I also have an interest in fixing things, whether at work or in the home. The material that I have studied so far has made me realise that I actually have quite a lot of knowledge in this subject that I never knew I had.
When I was young, I really struggled to think of a suitable career path. And over the years I have changed my career ideas several times. I always had it in my head that the best I could do for myself and my family was to stay at school for as long as possible and then go on to university. I settled into the idea of training to be a secondary school teacher, specialising in Physical Education. I gained the grades that I needed and was accepted into the BEd (hons) Secondary PE course. Within five months of the course I started feeling depressed and realised that I was at university for all the wrong reasons. I made the decision to leave and take a couple years out of education so that I could work full time and gain valuable work, and life experience. This way I would have more time to think about what I could do with my future. I decided that my most ideal job would be something I would enjoy doing; a job that would reward me financially for being good at my job; it would give me a sense of security and wouldn't wake me feel overworked and undervalued. I then saw a leaflet for skillstrain. After my initial meeting I realised that this job is what I would love doing and get paid well for doing it. Every aspect of the job description excited me and I just cant wait to finish the course. I know that I will find it challenging along the way but I want this so badly, I wont quit until its done!!

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I began this course just over a year ago now and while my progress was slowed considerably while I moved home which had not been planned when I started the course I knew that my study time could be flexible enough for me to be able to get over this obstruction. I've now completed my A+ course and passed the exam and I'm moving swiftly on to my N+ coursework. A year ago I was made redundant and felt I was at a dead end in the industry I am currently qualified for, it was a depressing prospect to feel I was not exploring my full potential so I contacted the Skills Train. Being able to study for a qualification in a field I am extremely interested in whilst being able to study around my current day job has changed my outlook considerably and I look forward to the new prospects that are opening up for me.

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Three weeks ago, I wrote to the college for a reference letter to back up my application for a new position within my company as my company wanted the letter confirming that I have completed A+ and N+ and have commenced the study of CCNA. The letter was provided and I went, I saw and we (myself and SKILL Skillstrain) conquered.

Someone with a little and humble beginning is now in a comfortable position within the Information Systems department. Not only that, I applied for further training and if the unconfirmed news I heard from my manager should be trusted, then I am already successful. According to my manager, I was selected for the training (among other 3 people) for the fact that I already have Experience of CISCO and Networking. How would I have gained all the above remarkable experience without Skillstrain solidly standing behind me?
My success is not going to end there for I do know that it has just started. The very day I took the bold step of joining Skillstrain was the very day I took my destiny in my hands and said to my hidden success;" Let's start our journey". and we have just started our success journey and story. Success doesn't come so easily, for it demands hard work. My TMA's and my drive to succeed are living testimonies of my hardwork which Skillstrain contributed to in no small measures.

I just wish I started with the college earlier than when I started. If I did, I would had risen more than I have now. But there is no regret as long as I have Skillstrain, success is assured.

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Have been working 2 jobs and have been studying in tea breaks and lunch hours. The company I work for has a Communications division and the director of it heard about what I was doing and the course I was studying. He has offered me a position as Communications Engineer. I am now working on Telecoms, Data Comms, Audio Visual,Security and Wirless.

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After a few months studying for the Network+ exam I landed a full time IT Support job with my now current employer who was impressed with my commitment to the course. I have now passed the exam and am certified and now have the chance of a promotion because of this.

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Although this isn't an achievement in passing an exam as I have a long way to go for that, this is an achievement for me, in studying the course material.

A couple of weeks ago my downstairs sockets trippied out when a fuse in a plug blew. Having reset the switch on the fuse box I checked all the plugs to see which one had fused. As it happens it was the fuse in the power lead to the computer that had blown. I replaced the fuse in the plug and connected it back to the pc and switched it on, nothing happened! My pc didn't start humming as normal! What could it be??

Not having the cash to buy a new pc, I thought what the hell! It's what I'm doing this course for! I checked the manufacturers warranty and just as I thought it was well out of date. So I decided to have a crack at troubleshooting it myself. This I did successfully and found that the PSU had blown. I double checked my findings with one of the tutors (being a novice I thought it best to ask), and successfully replaced the PSU in my pc which is now working perfectly.

There you have it, not rocket science I know, but for a complete novice I think I did pretty well!

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I have been working for a Learndirect centre for a while now and am now able to support my students that are undertaking PC technical courses! We have never been able to do them before but once I told my employer they started advertising them and I am now the "professional" in that area!

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It is amazing what the course with Skills Train can do! I have searched for computer based job since I set foot in the UK.

I had my University education and a Diploma in computer hardware and Software Engineering from outside the UK and that could not guarantee me computer based job. The moment I put the course I'm doing with Skills Train on my CV(Curriculum Vitae), I landed a Data entry job with Christian Salvesen. It is a computer based job. My dream is achieved.

I say a Big thank you to Skills Train and All its staff.

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