“The course has helped me in many ways, I have now completed two courses in DKIT over the last two years and it has really opened my eyes to the benefits of higher education and learning new things".
Garreth Tackney from Bailieborough, Co Cavan is an avid lifelong learner and after successfully completing the DkIT Lean Six Sigma part-time programme in the Cavan Innovation and Technology Centre (CITC) in 2019, he enrolled for the DkIT Certificate in Programming the following year.
I had a real appetite for the improving my computer programming knowledge and I knew if the programming course was delivered in the same fashion as Lean Six Sigma it would be definitely worth my while.”
Garreth is a director of a start-up company EDAC based in Cavan whose mission is ‘to have a positive impact on how the environmental sector manages its compliance."
Our number one goal is to ensure the delivery of an enhanced quality in environmental asset management, and in turn improve culture for our clients and users. We deliver on this with our unique innovative software and our amazing services provided by our very experienced team."
Garreth has a background in Engineering but has increasingly been involved in leading technology projects as he took on management roles in different companies. Prior to EDAC’s inception, he spent 3 years working with McBreen Environmental, an environmental service company based in Cavan. Whilst setting up EDAC, he recognised that the computer programming course in DKIT was a perfect fit for what EDAC needed and his own professional development.
It gave me the skills to understand and relate to our in-house software developers and definitely opened my mind to more creative opportunities and possibilities, especially for our product roadmap.”
The part time course was based around two modules, Programming (Java) and Web Development, covering a broad range of programming areas such as HTML, PHP Java, JavaScript , JS Query and CSS.
The course also included topics like photo editing for web and optimising file formats for video and audio on the web. Part of the course included project work which helped the students enhance their project management skills. It would definitely assist anyone who might not have had any prior project management experience or have had the opportunity to manage a project from the outset right through to completion.”
The programme format was primarily classroom based however blended learning became the norm once the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak occurred.
I personally found the programme enjoyable, it was two evenings a week and it never felt like a chore even after a hard day’s work. The course was class-based but because I was based in Cavan, the lecturers did offer me the opportunity to join some classes remotely. However I found that I engage and learn better in a classroom environment, plus having other students in the class was good from a social point of view.”
With COVID hitting us in March, the transition to remote online learning was very impressive from DKIT. Our lecturers Philip Scanlon (Website Development lecturer) and Peter Gosling (Java lecturer) were very helpful and accommodating, especially during a time that was very strange for everyone and not just the students.”
The lecturers were a great support for Garreth, particularly in helping him overcome the trickier aspects of the course.
I personally found the Java quite tough but with the lecturers’ help I gained confidence in this area and definitely felt a lot more comfortable with it by end of the first semester. The lecturers also provided loads of useful resources for all aspects of the course which allowed us to improve on certain aspects if needed. Because it is part-time course, there tends to be more mature student participating in the programme. Managing this variance in skill levels is undoubtedly challenging for lecturers but they managed it so well and I would rate them very highly.”
As a busy father of three and working full-time, Garreth paid tribute to his wife for helping him juggle life, work and study commitments.
I am not going to lie, balancing a full-time job, family (Aaron 7, Luke 5, Amy Rose 2) along with the course was challenging to say the least. I must give a mention to my wife Lorraine. Her patience during this period, and her support was a major factor in me completing the course successfully. It’s like anything I guess, looking back on it, it always seems more manageable than it was at the time.”
Garreth is confident that the hard work was definitely worth it and will continue to help him progress in his career.
The course has helped me in many ways, I have now completed two courses in DKIT over the last two years and it has really opened my eyes to the benefits of higher education and learning new things and as the saying goes ‘knowledge is the bridge to a better place.”
I’d recommend the computer programming to people of all backgrounds to be honest, irrespective of your technical background. There was a great mix in our class, it will give you a great introduction to the world of programming and web development.”
Useful Links:
Certificate in Lean Six Sigma (Green Belt)
