Cornald Orjiako (Graduate Diploma in Computing, 2024)

I have had a long spell with information technology and computing and knew I had a date with taking a full computer science or information technology related course but never knew when or how.

My academic background is in Physics / Electronics (Higher National Diploma, HND) and Electrical / Electronic Engineering, B. Eng) and I am a registered engineer in my home country, Nigeria. In terms of my career, I started out as a junior network engineer in an information technology / telecommunications firm before moving to the oil and gas industry where I have trained and practised as a pre-commissioning and commissioning engineer. So, when it was time to take a break from work and skill up, I discovered The University of Buckingham and gave it a shot. And looking back at the year-long graduate diploma programme I chose, it sure was the right decision.

The friendly faculty and staff at the university and particularly in the School of Computing, the conducive learning environment, the mode of teaching and assessment were all in the right mix to enable me to excel in my studies.

I learnt coding from scratch and dived into an individual project that exposed me to more than I learnt in the classroom. My project supervisor, along with other module tutors, encouraged me to go the extra mile and learn as much as possible. The facilities at the university were also instrumental in developing my coding skills.

After graduating from the university, I have moved on to taking up a role as a pre-commissioning engineer, which is quite like my previous role before taking a break from work. And I have brought along with me a deep knowledge of computing and information technology.
It may delight you to know that I have started looking at applying my coding skills to developing solutions in the pre-commissioning and commissioning engineering discipline which though not so popular, adds a lot of value to the engineering field and to the society at large.

I look forward to working with The University of Buckingham towards supporting students by exposing them to the numerous opportunities which studying computing offers and especially in the engineering and technical fields.