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iCarnegie Student Success Story:
An Excellent Career Change from Food Service to Computer Programming

John Saunders: 2003 Winner of the Gold Medal in the Computer Programming Category, WorldSkills Competition in Adelaide Region of Australia.

Student Mr. John Darren Saunders

Why iCarnegie? He wanted the best preparation possible for a new career in computer programming. "Fantastic" is how he describes his iCarnegie education experience.

Partner School Adelaide Institute of TAFE, South Australia

iCarnegie Alumni Status iCarnegie Certificates in Computer Programming and Software Systems Development

Profession & Employer Programmer, Empower Masterpay Adelaide, S. Australia

Taking the iCarnegie Courses
While John Saunders was working as a team leader at a local Hungry Jacks restaurant, he had strong aspirations for a full-time career in software programming. "To me, a programming position provides new and exciting challenges everyday," he said. As he was nearing graduation from secondary school in 2002, he learned that the Adelaide Institute of TAFE was offering a software development curriculum program and certifications from iCarnegie. He enrolled in the program for several reasons:

First, he knew that because of iCarnegie's educational partnership with Carnegie Mellon University, he believed the training would be world class and that the Carnegie Mellon name would be meaningful to employers.

Second, the rapid pace and focus of the program meant that in less than two years, he would have the skills, experience, and certifications that would make him workforce ready.

Finally, he liked that the curriculum was designed to blend strong practical training with modern software engineering principles and concepts, which would make him a valuable professional over the long term, even as programming technologies changed.

Once enrolled in the courses, Mr. Saunders found that from the very first assignment, he would be gaining real-world preparation and experience. In addition, he said "the course taught students programming concepts that can be applied to any programming language or development level."

Becoming iCarnegie Certified
Mr. Saunders graduated from the full 10-course iCarnegie program and in July 2003, he passed the iCarnegie certification exams for both Computer Programming and Software Systems Development.

"The iCarnegie certifications represent the fact that the students have been able to successfully complete a course that has high standards, requires fast learning, emphasizes practical experience, and ensures your ability to design and develop sellable software products," he said.

Achieving Professional Advancement
Empower Masterpay, which provides e-business and people management software solutions and is based in Adelaide, was a supporter of the iCarnegie program at Adelaide Institute of TAFE because they were interested in professionals who could keep pace with their use of the latest in client/server and Internet technologies. Mr. Saunders was one of the iCarnegie curriculum students interviewed and as a result, secured a programmer position upon his graduation.

He started working at Empower in July 2003 at 19 years old. As a programmer trainee, his hourly pay has increased by 60% over his previous job.

Working in the Industry Today
Today at Empower, Mr. Saunders is involved with writing software programs that meet new specifications, fixing reported bugs and errors in existing programs, and identifying client requests. Recently, he was given additional responsibilities to control patches and product versions. He is programming in Java, C, Web Focus, Open Road, and Crystal. He found that the iCarnegie curriculum requirements for fast learning, quality, and a deep understanding of programming concepts prepared him extremely well for his job.

"There is everything to gain by taking the iCarnegie courses. The curriculum develops high-caliber students that have 'real world' experience," he says. "You can't go wrong."

(reprinted with student's permission)