[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":328},["ShallowReactive",2],{"blog:2006:reflections-on-damien-guard-bsc-hons":3,"blogMore-Personal":195,"comments-reflections-on-damien-guard-bsc-hons":208},{"_path":4,"_dir":5,"_draft":6,"_partial":6,"_locale":7,"title":8,"description":9,"date":10,"category":11,"tags":12,"excerpt":14,"body":29,"_type":186,"_id":187,"_source":188,"_file":189,"_stem":190,"_extension":191,"url":192,"wordCount":193,"minutes":184,"commentCount":194},"/blog/2006/reflections-on-damien-guard-bsc-hons","2006",false,"en","Reflections on Damien Guard, BSc (Hons)","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.","2006-10-17T19:14:52+00:00","Personal",[13],"Open University",{"type":15,"children":16},"root",[17,24],{"type":18,"tag":19,"props":20,"children":21},"element","p",{},[22],{"type":23,"value":9},"text",{"type":18,"tag":19,"props":25,"children":26},{},[27],{"type":23,"value":28},"It has taken me 9 courses, 7 years, 46 assignments, 8 exams and 1 final project (a mini-eBay).",{"type":15,"children":30,"toc":182},[31,35,39,44,49,54,59,153,158,163,168,173],{"type":18,"tag":19,"props":32,"children":33},{},[34],{"type":23,"value":9},{"type":18,"tag":19,"props":36,"children":37},{},[38],{"type":23,"value":28},{"type":18,"tag":19,"props":40,"children":41},{},[42],{"type":23,"value":43},"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.",{"type":18,"tag":19,"props":45,"children":46},{},[47],{"type":23,"value":48},"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.",{"type":18,"tag":19,"props":50,"children":51},{},[52],{"type":23,"value":53},"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!)",{"type":18,"tag":19,"props":55,"children":56},{},[57],{"type":23,"value":58},"Here’s how it went, in reverse chronological order:",{"type":18,"tag":60,"props":61,"children":62},"ul",{},[63,78,90,102,114,119,124,136,141],{"type":18,"tag":64,"props":65,"children":66},"li",{},[67,76],{"type":18,"tag":68,"props":69,"children":73},"a",{"href":70,"rel":71},"https://www3.open.ac.uk/courses/bin/p12.dll?C01T305",[72],"nofollow",[74],{"type":23,"value":75},"T305 Digital Communications",{"type":23,"value":77}," 2006, exam not yet marked",{"type":18,"tag":64,"props":79,"children":80},{},[81,88],{"type":18,"tag":68,"props":82,"children":85},{"href":83,"rel":84},"https://www3.open.ac.uk/COURSES/bin/p12.dll?C01TM427",[72],[86],{"type":23,"value":87},"TM427 The IT and Computing Project",{"type":23,"value":89}," 2005",{"type":18,"tag":64,"props":91,"children":92},{},[93,100],{"type":18,"tag":68,"props":94,"children":97},{"href":95,"rel":96},"https://www3.open.ac.uk/courses/bin/p12.dll?C01M360",[72],[98],{"type":23,"value":99},"M360 Developing Internet Applications",{"type":23,"value":101}," 2004",{"type":18,"tag":64,"props":103,"children":104},{},[105,112],{"type":18,"tag":68,"props":106,"children":109},{"href":107,"rel":108},"https://www3.open.ac.uk/courses/bin/p12.dll?C01M301",[72],[110],{"type":23,"value":111},"M301 Software Systems and their Development",{"type":23,"value":113}," 2003, distinction",{"type":18,"tag":64,"props":115,"children":116},{},[117],{"type":23,"value":118},"T171 You, Your Computer and the Net 2002",{"type":18,"tag":64,"props":120,"children":121},{},[122],{"type":23,"value":123},"T223 Microprocessor-Based Computers 2002, distinction",{"type":18,"tag":64,"props":125,"children":126},{},[127,134],{"type":18,"tag":68,"props":128,"children":131},{"href":129,"rel":130},"https://www3.open.ac.uk/courses/bin/p12.dll?C01M358",[72],[132],{"type":23,"value":133},"M358 Relational Databases",{"type":23,"value":135}," 2001",{"type":18,"tag":64,"props":137,"children":138},{},[139],{"type":23,"value":140},"M206 Computing: An Object-Oriented Approach 2000",{"type":18,"tag":64,"props":142,"children":143},{},[144,151],{"type":18,"tag":68,"props":145,"children":148},{"href":146,"rel":147},"https://www3.open.ac.uk/courses/bin/p12.dll?C01MT262",[72],[149],{"type":23,"value":150},"MT262 Putting Computer Systems to Work",{"type":23,"value":152}," 1999, distinction",{"type":18,"tag":19,"props":154,"children":155},{},[156],{"type":23,"value":157},"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.",{"type":18,"tag":19,"props":159,"children":160},{},[161],{"type":23,"value":162},"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.",{"type":18,"tag":19,"props":164,"children":165},{},[166],{"type":23,"value":167},"Now what am I going to do with all this spare time?",{"type":18,"tag":19,"props":169,"children":170},{},[171],{"type":23,"value":172},"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.",{"type":18,"tag":19,"props":174,"children":175},{},[176],{"type":18,"tag":177,"props":178,"children":179},"em",{},[180],{"type":23,"value":181},"[)amien",{"title":183,"searchDepth":184,"depth":184,"links":185},"",2,[],"markdown","content:blog:2006:reflections-on-damien-guard-bsc-hons.md","content","blog/2006/reflections-on-damien-guard-bsc-hons.md","blog/2006/reflections-on-damien-guard-bsc-hons","md","/blog/2006/reflections-on-damien-guard-bsc-hons/",353,5,[196,200,204],{"title":197,"date":198,"url":199},"From somewhere small: Transport in the USA (well, Seattle)","2011-01-29T23:57:33+00:00","/blog/2011/from-somewhere-small-transport-in-the-usa-well-seattle/",{"title":201,"date":202,"url":203},"Origins of a love affair","2009-12-29T12:06:51+00:00","/blog/2009/origins-of-a-love-affair/",{"title":205,"date":206,"url":207},"Friday Fill-Ins #91","2008-09-27T05:26:07+00:00","/blog/2008/friday-fill-ins-91/",[209,228,251,274,300],{"_path":210,"_dir":211,"_draft":6,"_partial":6,"_locale":7,"title":212,"description":213,"id":214,"name":215,"date":216,"body":217,"_type":186,"_id":225,"_source":188,"_file":226,"_stem":227,"_extension":191},"/comments/reflections-on-damien-guard-bsc-hons/1650","reflections-on-damien-guard-bsc-hons","1650","congratulations!!!!",1650,"Victoriya Teregulova","2006-10-28T09:27:19",{"type":15,"children":218,"toc":223},[219],{"type":18,"tag":19,"props":220,"children":221},{},[222],{"type":23,"value":213},{"title":183,"searchDepth":184,"depth":184,"links":224},[],"content:comments:reflections-on-damien-guard-bsc-hons:1650.md","comments/reflections-on-damien-guard-bsc-hons/1650.md","comments/reflections-on-damien-guard-bsc-hons/1650",{"_path":229,"_dir":211,"_draft":6,"_partial":6,"_locale":7,"title":230,"description":231,"id":232,"name":233,"date":234,"body":235,"_type":186,"_id":248,"_source":188,"_file":249,"_stem":250,"_extension":191},"/comments/reflections-on-damien-guard-bsc-hons/1649","1649","Hey Mate",1649,"Tim Park","2006-10-18T18:37:52",{"type":15,"children":236,"toc":246},[237,241],{"type":18,"tag":19,"props":238,"children":239},{},[240],{"type":23,"value":231},{"type":18,"tag":19,"props":242,"children":243},{},[244],{"type":23,"value":245},"Well done, very impressive, wish I had the commitment, time and everything else needed to do it :-)",{"title":183,"searchDepth":184,"depth":184,"links":247},[],"content:comments:reflections-on-damien-guard-bsc-hons:1649.md","comments/reflections-on-damien-guard-bsc-hons/1649.md","comments/reflections-on-damien-guard-bsc-hons/1649",{"_path":252,"_dir":211,"_draft":6,"_partial":6,"_locale":7,"title":253,"description":254,"id":255,"name":256,"date":257,"body":258,"_type":186,"_id":271,"_source":188,"_file":272,"_stem":273,"_extension":191},"/comments/reflections-on-damien-guard-bsc-hons/1648","1648","Nice one mate, well done :)",1648,"Carlo","2006-10-17T23:28:51",{"type":15,"children":259,"toc":269},[260,264],{"type":18,"tag":19,"props":261,"children":262},{},[263],{"type":23,"value":254},{"type":18,"tag":19,"props":265,"children":266},{},[267],{"type":23,"value":268},"Perhaps with that spare time you could take a trip over to see your friends back in Jersey now and then ;)",{"title":183,"searchDepth":184,"depth":184,"links":270},[],"content:comments:reflections-on-damien-guard-bsc-hons:1648.md","comments/reflections-on-damien-guard-bsc-hons/1648.md","comments/reflections-on-damien-guard-bsc-hons/1648",{"_path":275,"_dir":211,"_draft":6,"_partial":6,"_locale":7,"title":276,"description":277,"id":278,"name":279,"email":280,"avatar":281,"url":282,"date":283,"body":284,"_type":186,"_id":297,"_source":188,"_file":298,"_stem":299,"_extension":191},"/comments/reflections-on-damien-guard-bsc-hons/1647","1647","Congrats mate :) It's worth it in the end, I can't believe it's now 6 years almost to the day since I finished my very similar course of study. I agree that T223 was a lot of fun, it was brand new when I did it. And yeah, the Java tools they make you use are terrible. When I did it they had a deal with Borland over JBuilder, which was just naff as hell. I would have hoped they'd just let you use the latest Eclipse these days, since it's free and all.",1647,"Steve","steve@stevestreeting.com","https://www.gravatar.com/avatar/fbe8cc9ac5bc8797382e01e10f5f8e33?r=pg&d=retro","https://www.stevestreeting.com","2006-10-17T21:05:31",{"type":15,"children":285,"toc":295},[286,290],{"type":18,"tag":19,"props":287,"children":288},{},[289],{"type":23,"value":277},{"type":18,"tag":19,"props":291,"children":292},{},[293],{"type":23,"value":294},"Enjoy the graduation ceremony next spring!",{"title":183,"searchDepth":184,"depth":184,"links":296},[],"content:comments:reflections-on-damien-guard-bsc-hons:1647.md","comments/reflections-on-damien-guard-bsc-hons/1647.md","comments/reflections-on-damien-guard-bsc-hons/1647",{"_path":301,"_dir":211,"_draft":6,"_partial":6,"_locale":7,"title":302,"description":303,"id":304,"name":305,"date":306,"body":307,"_type":186,"_id":325,"_source":188,"_file":326,"_stem":327,"_extension":191},"/comments/reflections-on-damien-guard-bsc-hons/1646","1646","Yay you!",1646,"Lemurgirl","2006-10-17T20:11:47",{"type":15,"children":308,"toc":323},[309,313,318],{"type":18,"tag":19,"props":310,"children":311},{},[312],{"type":23,"value":303},{"type":18,"tag":19,"props":314,"children":315},{},[316],{"type":23,"value":317},"Many congrats, now we both have letters after our names!",{"type":18,"tag":19,"props":319,"children":320},{},[321],{"type":23,"value":322},"AxXx",{"title":183,"searchDepth":184,"depth":184,"links":324},[],"content:comments:reflections-on-damien-guard-bsc-hons:1646.md","comments/reflections-on-damien-guard-bsc-hons/1646.md","comments/reflections-on-damien-guard-bsc-hons/1646",1779264561443]