Finding out about IT

You met Dean earlier in the course.

He’s 28 and cares for his mum, brother and grandad. Dean has decided that he’d like to find ways to develop his career. He knows that the better employment he finds, the better placed he is to support his family and fulfil his caring responsibilities. Combining his paid work and his caring role has been challenging and he has felt unsupported by his employer and trade union, despite being a workplace union representative. In order to progress his career, Dean has decided to reduce his work to four shifts a week so he can combine his employment with his Open University studying and his caring roles. He faces continuing challenges with his own health, but is clear and focused on his long-term aim to work in IT.

Listen to Dean talking about his experience of studying.

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These are the steps Dean has taken towards his goal.

  1. His girlfriend helped him realise that he wanted to progress his career in order to better support himself and his family.
  2. He knew he could study, but realised his skills and knowledge were out of date.
  3. He realised he needed to find out how and where to pick up where he left off.
  4. He researched courses online as well as local college options, and distance learning opportunities through The Open University.
  5. Health problems meant delaying a return to study.
  6. He negotiated part-time working, and started studying two courses.
  7. Financial demands mean he has to increase his working hours, so he dropped one course.

Dean has experienced setbacks on the way to taking up his studies in IT, but he has persevered and is enjoying his studies.

He has chosen to study an introductory level 1 module with The Open University, TU100 My Digital Life [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] , which is an introduction to the future of computing and the internet.

Routes into social services

Routes into IT