Ian Barker

My name is Ian and I am one of the SYFIT (South Yorkshire Fastrack to Information Technology) trainees working within the University of Sheffield. For most of my life I have lived in a small village on the outskirts of Barnsley called Birdwell.

My interest in computing goes back to my schooldays, where I started out by attending Barnsley College of Technology on a half-day release from school, to take O’Level Computer Studies, for which I got a ‘C’. From there, I headed back to the college full-time for two years to take a B\TEC OND in Computer Studies, followed by a three-year sandwich course at Sunderland doing a B\TEC HND, for which I received a Distinction (One of only three in our year).

Returning back to Barnsley, I spent the next eight years searching for a suitable position, including undertaking several further courses to expand my abilities. As the years went on, I started to move away from the ‘system design\programming’ that I had learnt during my education towards the support and maintenance of PC’s and the software used on them. The root to all this was the fact that I had bought a PC and through the years done most of the upgrading.

Since then, I have worked for both Barnsley MBC and The Sheffield College in a support role. My last position was with the tour operator Travel City Direct, which was based in a call centre in Sheffield. There I was supporting the various staff in the use of the PC systems, as well as PC maintenance and looking after the internal phone system. As the company’s main business was selling holidays to Florida and Las Vegas, the events in New York on 9/11 had a severe effect and resulted in the company making many staff redundant, including myself. Since then I have been searching for a new position, but have found that the only area where there is significant IT growth is within schools. Having received feedback from the many applications and interviews I have made to various schools, the reason most often given for not being selected was the lack of exposure to a school environment. As the SYFIT programme will hopefully provide work experience within the CLC schools in the Barnsley\Rotherham area, this is an ideal opportunity for me to close that gap in my experience.

Most recently, I have started upon the road to becoming a Cisco Certified Network Associate. So far, I have reached the halfway point and I hope to complete the entire course and take the exams before the end of March 2004.

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