About four and half years ago I was in a job that I hated, so I considered learning I.T. I knew nothing about computers, not even how to switch one on or off. I looked into it but did not follow it up, until last year.

How I ended up doing I.T. is as follows:

Firstly I changed my job in the hope that it was the other job that I didn’t like and I would enjoy the new job more more. Then I went on holiday and had a heart attack. This meant a long time off work but I did go back after 4 months, but a month later I was told I had to have emergency heart surgery or die! I underwent the operation and luckily survived to tell the tale! However I was told afterwards I could no longer do any heavy lifting in jobs, and that would be for the rest of my life. So I started to look into IT training. After a search I found Pjs and actually began learning IT at last. I found not only was it not as hard as I thought it was going to be but that I was good at it. I ended up getting 16 eDCC certificates. Not only that but was nominated as adult learner of the year in 2006. I gained enough confidence to attend a course at MANCAT and gained a Clait 2006 certificate. Now I am doing an ECDL there.

Also because I so enjoyed my courses at Pjs I now work there as a volunteer as a teaching assistant. It is great fun. I would certainly say to other people that you should try new things and learn new skills. In that way you can do something you enjoy instead of being stuck in a job that makes you miserable.

This is a brief description how I got into computing. I got there in the END.

TONY.V.

In October 2006 Fare Pak Hampers went to joint administrators. Martha H Thompson and Shagun Dubey. A staggering 150 million families saving up for Christmas lost a lot of money. What made this even worse was the fact that a lot of people knew that this company was in so much trouble even down to the banks, yet they still kept taking money from people. I am one of those people who lost money on this. At the start of the year I had a good Christmas to look forward to and now it has turned my world up side down. I had to tell my children that Santa wouldn’t be able to leave them much this year and to not hope for too much.

I started having hampers so that I didn’t get into debt, after finally getting myself out of it. To be fair it worked well for a few years.

However, now because of what has happened, I have had to get loans to pay for Christmas for my children. I don’t think they should lose out because these people didn’t seem to care what happened to all their customers. My agent has tried so hard to get some money back for us but there is only so much she can do. Some companies and individuals have given donations to a stand-alone charity (Joint administrators are not part of this). The closing date for the donations was 29^th November 2006. Good Will payments in the form of vouchers will be distributed directly to agents by no later than the 18^th December 2006. Which doesn’t give us much time to give our kids a good Christmas.

It is better than nothing though and it will really help people who haven’t been able to get loans and who like me even got turned down by the DHSS for a loan. Which to me is wrong, you would think that the government would put something in to the DHSS to help these people. Then they don’t have to get loans with high interest rates and get into so much debt. The total of Donations received is at £6.000.000. Which is nothing compared to the millions lost but even the smallest amount helps these people to have a better Christmas.

This is the story of my experience as an IT beginner. I wanted a change of career and I thought that in order to improve my job prospects I thought I should get some IT skills. However I was worried that as an adult returning to learning I would find it too difficult.

My first thought was to find a course but there is so much information out there it was difficult to know which would be the best for me. Organisations offering IT training were: Mancat, Manchester Adult Education Service, Adult Learning Centres, UK Online Centres and other colleges throughout Manchester. So how could I choose? On top of that there are all different kinds of courses such as: ECDL, New Clait, Clait Diploma, eDCC, Clait Plus and so on……which one do I need to start with? I went to different colleges and centres and got lots of different answers. Hence as a learner I am confused!

There were other issues too. If it’s not the venue being too far or not offering the course you want. It’s that there is no funding available. If it’s not the venue, funding or the course it’s the tutors. Is the support there? If lucky yes but for the majority - No.

Staff, it seems, are overstressed and overworked. Why is that I wondered?

Government funding almost non existent in some areas, so not enough staff (staff to learner ratio) and resources – not able to meet learners needs.

Too much paperwork overwhelming to meet the criteria to obtain the minimal funding available.

Eg: If learner is on benefit and it’s not a means tested benefit in a lot of places the learner is therefore not eligible to receive funding.

For the learner the course maybe too expensive, another door is then shut. No learners, venue is then closed down, again another venue is lost. So it feels like doors are closed in my face many times. It seems a shame when so many people are willing to learn but it is made difficult for them.

There are some good Government Initiatives around for example Eastserve

Excellent idea - providing people with the opportunity to buy equipment at a low cost.

But again must meet certain criteria. You probably live in the wrong area therefore you are not eligible, even though you may have a low income and Mr Smith is a high earner he is entitled because he lives in the correct place. Equipment is too expensive to buy so if you live in the wrong place another door is then shut.

So is it all negative? Well I don’t think so. If you are persistent there are many positive things to be gained as well as gaining qualifications and improving employment chances. You gain other important skills also such as improving confidence, improve self esteem, social skills get better, make new friends and more importantly enjoy it! Not forgetting that at the end of it all you can earn better money with your new skills and confidence.

But why is it difficult to obtain the simple information needed as an outsider looking in? Once involved there is lots of advice, help and opportunities available. My motto is you need a course on how to find a course. So stick with it as its all worth it in the end.

Look at me: from unemployed with no real job prospects to having obtained numerous eDCC certificates, Clait Diploma 2006, being nominated for adult learner of the year 2006 to now doing ECDL and being advised to go on to doing a teaching qualification. As well as going from a person with no confidence and very low self esteem to being a full on IT volunteer at PJ’s and enjoying every minute of it.

My adventure into IT began as an outsider looking in, to eventually finding two lovely mature ladies Lynn and Pat, working behind blue railings in a building that is not much to look at and tucked well away in a deprived area. But as you enter inside you find hearts of gold, support, guidance and help as well as education you gain much, much more. Which has led me on to gaining more than I thought possible.

Who do I owe my gratitude to? Lynn who works at PJ’S as an IT tutor, she provided me and still does with the support, advice and help I needed along my journey in every step of the way.

But I have one problem, from a quiet and reserved person you can now not shut me up!

My conclusion is that the majority of what is available is to do with where you live. Is this fair? I strongly disagree.

However my story has a happy ending and maybe if you make a little extra effort yours will too.

Concetta
Dec 2006