After seeking a career change, Michael Briggs, 36, attended our Bexley Campus to study the Computing foundation degree between 2017-2019. Since then, he undertook a further year of study at the University of Greenwich, topping his foundation degree up to a Bachelor of Science and graduating with first class honours. Michael then went on to complete a MSc in Data Science with – also top class – and is now looking into enrolling onto a PhD.
Michael visited the College to present ‘My Journey Through Academia’ to Level 4, Level 5 and HND Computing students consideing their next steps in the same field. He shared his experience as an LSEC student and his journey from someone who had “never coded” in his life, to an expert in his field – providing learners with lots of valuable insight on what to expect on a foundation degree, the lessons he learned along the way and his Level 6 and Level 7 research projects.
Michael said:
“I initially contacted the University of Greenwich directly and because I’d been out of education for so long, they weren’t willing to take me on. They pointed me in the direction of London South East Colleges and advised me to do an access course. After scoring highly on my initial test and showing a willingness to learn, I bypassed the access course and was put directly onto the foundation degree.”
“My first term was hard to begin with, so I consciously made some changes to make it easier in the long run. I started reading into things more. We would be assigned coursework on C Sharp, which is a programming language, and I wouldn’t just read the basics. I’d read what it was, and then expand on it and read around that. I’d try things and if they went wrong, I would try a different way of doing it, which expanded my own knowledge. I knew that if I did need help, I could ask [my tutor] for it.”
“They [tutors] want the best for students. They have been doing [computing] for a long time and know what it takes. They pushed us and when I look back on it, I can appreciate it.”
“I saved myself £6,000 by opting to do a foundation degree at London South East Colleges and topping it up to a BSc instead of taking the traditional three-year degree route at a university”.
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