[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":144},["ShallowReactive",2],{"blog:2006:reflections-on-damien-guard-bsc-hons":3,"blogMore-Personal":130,"comments-reflections-on-damien-guard-bsc-hons":143},{"id":4,"title":5,"body":6,"category":113,"commentCount":114,"date":115,"description":12,"excerpt":116,"extension":117,"filenames":118,"hidden":119,"image":118,"meta":120,"minutes":111,"navigation":121,"path":122,"seo":123,"showCategory":118,"stem":124,"tags":125,"updated":118,"url":127,"wordCount":128,"__hash__":129},"content\u002Fblog\u002F2006\u002Freflections-on-damien-guard-bsc-hons.md","Reflections on Damien Guard, BSc (Hons)",{"type":7,"value":8,"toc":109},"minimark",[9,13,16,19,22,25,28,91,94,97,100,103],[10,11,12],"p",{},"Taking a computer science honours degree in your spare time is a massive commitment and one that I’m not sure I would have embarked upon had I appreciated just how long the road would be when I started back in 1998.",[10,14,15],{},"It has taken me 9 courses, 7 years, 46 assignments, 8 exams and 1 final project (a mini-eBay).",[10,17,18],{},"The number of hours is difficult to calculate but the £3,500 fees is reasonable considering what full-time university fees amount to. This figure however was with a UK education subsidy which will no longer apply to students in the Channel Islands from next year so expect to pay about double that now.",[10,20,21],{},"During these 7 years I’ve moved house 5 times, relocated to another country twice, gone from employed to self-employed, changed car 3 times, motorcycle twice and worked on a number of interesting and great projects professionally.",[10,23,24],{},"I’ve changed so much on the way but I’m glad I saw it through to it’s conclusion (providing somehow I didn’t fail the exam and have to do another year of study!)",[10,26,27],{},"Here’s how it went, in reverse chronological order:",[29,30,31,42,50,58,66,69,72,80,83],"ul",{},[32,33,34,41],"li",{},[35,36,40],"a",{"href":37,"rel":38},"https:\u002F\u002Fwww3.open.ac.uk\u002Fcourses\u002Fbin\u002Fp12.dll?C01T305",[39],"nofollow","T305 Digital Communications"," 2006, exam not yet marked",[32,43,44,49],{},[35,45,48],{"href":46,"rel":47},"https:\u002F\u002Fwww3.open.ac.uk\u002FCOURSES\u002Fbin\u002Fp12.dll?C01TM427",[39],"TM427 The IT and Computing Project"," 2005",[32,51,52,57],{},[35,53,56],{"href":54,"rel":55},"https:\u002F\u002Fwww3.open.ac.uk\u002Fcourses\u002Fbin\u002Fp12.dll?C01M360",[39],"M360 Developing Internet Applications"," 2004",[32,59,60,65],{},[35,61,64],{"href":62,"rel":63},"https:\u002F\u002Fwww3.open.ac.uk\u002Fcourses\u002Fbin\u002Fp12.dll?C01M301",[39],"M301 Software Systems and their Development"," 2003, distinction",[32,67,68],{},"T171 You, Your Computer and the Net 2002",[32,70,71],{},"T223 Microprocessor-Based Computers 2002, distinction",[32,73,74,79],{},[35,75,78],{"href":76,"rel":77},"https:\u002F\u002Fwww3.open.ac.uk\u002Fcourses\u002Fbin\u002Fp12.dll?C01M358",[39],"M358 Relational Databases"," 2001",[32,81,82],{},"M206 Computing: An Object-Oriented Approach 2000",[32,84,85,90],{},[35,86,89],{"href":87,"rel":88},"https:\u002F\u002Fwww3.open.ac.uk\u002Fcourses\u002Fbin\u002Fp12.dll?C01MT262",[39],"MT262 Putting Computer Systems to Work"," 1999, distinction",[10,92,93],{},"Those not hyper-linked are no longer offered as the OU have been swift in replacing courses as technology moves on. It is however a shame to see their low-level T223 course go as it was probably my favorite.",[10,95,96],{},"M360 was probably my least favorite as the Java based web development environment we were given to use was unimpressive and no doubt antiquated compared to modern Java platforms.",[10,98,99],{},"Now what am I going to do with all this spare time?",[10,101,102],{},"Perhaps a little more out-of-hours work, a little more fun and maybe even a bit more time to dabble with some pet projects, open source and otherwise.",[10,104,105],{},[106,107,108],"em",{},"[)amien",{"title":110,"searchDepth":111,"depth":111,"links":112},"",2,[],"Personal",5,"2006-10-17T19:14:52+00:00","[object Object]","md",null,false,{},true,"\u002Fblog\u002F2006\u002Freflections-on-damien-guard-bsc-hons",{"title":5,"description":12},"blog\u002F2006\u002Freflections-on-damien-guard-bsc-hons",[126],"Open University","\u002Fblog\u002F2006\u002Freflections-on-damien-guard-bsc-hons\u002F",353,"eHAsZjhGHuwruK-KtP0lzBaBQ6fZi65071nN7BEVNZ4",[131,135,139],{"title":132,"date":133,"url":134},"Origins of a love affair","2009-12-29T12:06:51+00:00","\u002Fblog\u002F2009\u002Forigins-of-a-love-affair\u002F",{"title":136,"date":137,"url":138},"Friday Fill-Ins #91","2008-09-27T05:26:07+00:00","\u002Fblog\u002F2008\u002Ffriday-fill-ins-91\u002F",{"title":140,"date":141,"url":142},"How did I get started in software development?","2008-08-05T18:37:55+00:00","\u002Fblog\u002F2008\u002Fhow-did-i-get-started-in-software-development\u002F",[],1780900535232]