iCarnegie Student Success Story:
After 25 Years Working in IT, Mike King Turns to iCarnegie for Skills Rejuvenation

He considers the completion of the iCarnegie certificate program: "one of the best things I have ever done."

Student	Mr. Michael Anthony King
Why iCarnegie?	After 25 years in IT sales and management, he wanted to upgrade his skills to keep up with modern Internet application development.
Partner School	TAFE South Australia, Adelaide
iCarnegie Alumni Status	iCarnegie Certificates in Computer Programming and Software Systems Development
Profession & Employer	Information Associate at EDS, Inc.

Taking the iCarnegie Courses
Michael Anthony King had spent 25 years in various IT sales and management positions in Australia, but in early 2002 he began to look for training programs or courses that would help him improve and modernize his professional skills. When the Adelaide Institute of TAFE (AIT) in South Australia announced its offering of the iCarnegie curriculum and certifications, Mr. King realized it was the most appropriate and effective way to master new methods in programming and software development.

Compared to other professional training programs, he felt the iCarnegie curriculum presented a complete and challenging study of software development with a strong emphasis on today's Internet-based application environments. He also knew it would be a high-quality program due to its affiliation with Carnegie Mellon University, world-renowned for its computer science education.

Mr. King enrolled in the iCarnegie program at AIT in April 2002. Since then, he has taken all of the 10 iCarnegie courses. "It covered many areas in which I was unfamiliar," he said. He found the early Java courses to be "very enjoyable" and a strong foundation for the later courses, where he was extremely fulfilled in building an e-commerce website. As for the iCarnegie curriculum's focus on practical training, he said it reinforced the ideas the lecturers were trying to get across: "The concepts made much more sense after putting them into practice."

Becoming iCarnegie Certified
After completing the first five iCarnegie courses, Mr. King obtained his iCarnegie certification in Computer Programming in July 2003. He completed his final of the 10 courses in July 2003 and achieved the iCarnegie certification in Software Systems Development.

Achieving Professional Advancement
EDS, the world's largest outsourcing services company with 2002 revenue of $21.5 billion US, was a supporter of the iCarnegie program at AIT because it was looking to hire graduates with the level of skills and education that iCarnegie provided. The company interviewed a number of the students for several open positions. Mr. King was one of the candidates, and during the interview, he highlighted the range of iCarnegie course topics, emphasized the practical nature of the program, and described the curriculum's origins at Carnegie Mellon University. In addition, he informed them about the high expectations that were required to pass the iCarnegie certification exams.

He was hired almost immediately upon completion of the final iCarnegie course, to work as an Information Associate for EDS in South Australia.

Working in the Industry Today
Since his employment at EDS started, Mr. King has been involved in several projects including the ongoing development and maintenance of a parts supply software application. He has been coding in Visual Basic and doing system design, testing, reviews, requirements definition, development of project plans, database design, and some project analysis work. He finds that his training through the iCarnegie curriculum has prepared him well for this role at EDS. For Mr. King, the aspects of his iCarnegie education used most routinely include software engineering methods, project management, algorithms and network programming, and database development.

"I have been pleasantly surprised by how much of the course material is really used in the real world," he said. "The courses provide skills, experience, and knowledge that is very relevant."

(reprinted with student's permission)