Misión cumplida (mission accomplished)

I'm now the owner of a Bachelor of Science (Honours) in Computing, Upper Second-class Honours (2.1).

As if this would be a game of the destiny I had a Distinction (87%) on my project module.

It's like if life would like to add an eternal itchy and torture me on the fact that if I would have had just a 4% more in M362 and/or M363 I would have achieved a First but true is that my mind is anywhere else but on my BSc achievement and that I don't have that itchy at all.

I have so different plans for my life and my future now, based on my current Project Management studies that I honestly did not feel anything yesterday apart from the "ok, it's finished and now I can progress on my masters and change my life forever".

I have been programming since I'm 12 y.o. and I honestly want to try something else. I see the completion of my degree as the last bit that closes my past allowing me so to continue with my preparation for my future and that's why the degree in itself is not so important for me anymore.

That's it really.

The kind of reflection that normally everyone writes when they finished I did it long time ago here:
http://bscbefore31dec2014.blogspot.co.uk/2013/03/the-end-of-tunnel.html

That is still valid, if you're interested feel free to read it.

I think I'm also done with the OU as my current plans pass more for the PM side of things than for achieving my Diploma in Leadership and Management with the OU. In fact I have found a University in Scotland that offers a Masters in Leadership and Management (2.5 years part-time) that has very good modules ...and it's even cheaper that doing the two modules of the Dip Leadership and Management with the OU!

I probably will go for it once I finish my Masters in IT Project Management in 4 years from now (yes, it's a double masters and it takes 4 years part time).

So, this is me with (masters) study plans for the next 4 - 6.5 years.

While I wait for my results

Today I passed my PRINCE2 Foundation certification with a 77% on the exam.

The questions weren't easy but I'm happy with the results considering that only 1 month was dedicated to it.

I have also registered for an accelerated Masters in Project Management PMP in Spain, it will take only Nov 2014 - April 2015, it will be a lot of work as all the knowledge will be concentrated in just 6 months but I think it will be worth it. They only accept 15 pupils per year and I was accepted!

And last but not least I have also changed jobs again and I'm now Lead Developer!

During the days left until my Masters starts I need to study for the PRINCE2 Practitioner now, I have been looking at the way they offer the exams and it seems to be one cannot do it in a Prometric center else needs to do it in one of their venues or through the Internet with a laptop and a camera. I'm not so keen to do it through Internet as weird things could happen (disconnection, someone knocking at the door in the middle of the exam, etc.) and probably that would mean not passing the exam due to unforseen circumstances so I assume I will go to one of their centres in London or Milton Keynes.

Looking at their available dates I would say around December I could have some holidays that could match one of the exam dates. I wanted to have it before starting my Masters but I have also my holidays around that day and it's being difficult to see how can I do it possible that way, probably December is best option. The advantage is that I will dedicate more time to study for it but the disadvantage of it is that it will overlap with my Masters studies for some weeks.

Let's see what happens. Stay tuned!

Awaiting my results

That was it.

I have uploaded my EMA some hours ago and my mind is not with The OU stuff now.

I will start a Masters in Project Management after my results are out and another one in IT Project Management next August.

Now I'm starting to prepare (again) my PRINCE2 certification exam that I will be sitting next 18th October. I had to stop my preparation due to the high demand of dedication requested by TM470 so now that is over I wanted to take profit of my free time before my Masters starts at the end of November to achieve the PRINCE2 certification.

Stay tuned.

Just a month

...and it will be over. ;-)

Working a lot of hours per week on this module (again) as finally I have to re-structure my document into the EMA anyway. The idea progressing a document at all times during the module instead of doing separated TMAs was to avoid this step but finally I had so much information in my last TMA that I need to do a lot of work at this stage as well.

Under pressure at the moment but looking at the light at the end of the tunnel that is now starting to get shape as a way of relieving part of that pressure and find strength to get forwards. Hopefully the tunnel will not crash on December just before I go out :-).

I'm now thinking about not progressing my Foundation degree in Leadership and Management next year else studying seriously for the PRINCE2 certifications that I needed to stop last year to dedicate myself entirely to the project this year and then I will be starting my MSc in August 2015 (if the Uni accepts me) as I cannot start sooner.

Keep calm and carry on.

Now only the EMA is left

I have received my final TMA03 grade and I achieved a 87%. That's not a bad grade and I understand why I lost the other 13%.

I had problems to put everything together as my TMA03 is 185 pages long now and it's becoming difficult for me to put everything under the proper headings and structure with such a long submission.

I asked for feedback on this and my tutor has offered me help with structuring the info and giving advice on how to reduce it and I accepted it. I have been thinking about how different it's when you find someone that is keen to help than when it happens otherwise.

At the beginning of the module I had a not-so-good experience in the preparation forum, it looked like every idea I had was just crap but then I found one that the moderator liked and things started to change from the point I was assigned a tutor onwards.

This module is a lot of work, a lot. I cannot imagine how people having two or more modules on the same year have coped with everything. Having said that, it's also very reflective and you will learn something new for sure. I find it hard but also rewarding if things go as expected but it can be very frustrating for people that having had consistently good grades across the years suddenly cannot fit into the module structure required.

My perception is that there is currently a great difference on how different tutors perceive the structure required for the TMAs (length, etc.) and the main concern I see in the forums has been all the time the length of the TMA and how that differs from the documentation provided and the worry about the second marker having a different approach and cutting down the final grade as he/she was expecting shorter documents.

Let's see what happens, just one EMA left now and if everything goes well for me and I achieve more than a 40% in my EMA I will be a graduate this December.

After 5 years studying I cannot believe I'm almost there.

Fingers crossed.

Two months and TM470 is over!

Today I came from some short holidays I had booked since long time ago as some friends had invited me to their wedding in France since 2 years ago and I had accepted. After two years saying I would be there it was my obligation (and desire) to be there.

Exactly 2 months for the project to finish... a post was mandatory :-).

I'm still waiting for my TMA03 result and I will be starting in a new job next Monday. So, a lot of things going on and everything still to be defined somehow.

It's working for me but unfortunately not for everyone

All the efforts done during TMA02 served to keep the level achieved during TMA01. Today I received my results and I was very happy to see I achieved a 91% this time.

I have now taken 2 weeks off to dedicate myself entirely to the programming part, (hopefully) being so able to manage all the demands on this TMA03 without needing to do the same prolonged effort I did for TMA02 where every day was a challenge trying to find as much time as possible to dedicate to the project.

I have already the 10% needed from TMAs to pass the module in case EMA result would be a clean 40% (40 x 75% = 30%), in fact I have already achieved a 13.7% of the total grade so now my TMA03 result will serve to put my gradings up assuming my EMA will be a 40% or more.

It's being a lot of work but I'm really enjoying this programming part as I'm learning CodeIgniter as part of the process and the feedback from my tutor is being extremely valuable for me to see my own mistakes and (hopefully) fix them.

It would be a sort of an irony if I finally have my only level 3 Distinction with this module but I would also be glad if that's the case as it will be a recognition to all my efforts on this module up to today. I will also be glad with a 40% if that's the case as the important bit for me is to achieve my BSc this December (almost only 4.5 months now for this to finish!!)

Based strictly on my own experience I would not recommend to anyone doing TM470 beside other modules at the same time as I think it's really hard to keep a good level on TM470 in such cases due to the extreme demand that this module is meaning (at least this year and at least for me) and also could affect your final results of the other modules.

At the same time I'm happy for my results I'm also sad to see the amount of people that have demonstrated that are very hardworking individuals during years and are now suffering a lot with this module according to the forum posts.

Some people is now considering to leave the module and re-take it next year, even when I know this happens every year as I know some of those pupils for having coincided with them in previous modules it makes me feel sad that knowing how hard they have worked to reach this point they are now feeling they don't have enough strength, time, etc. to cope with this module demands.

My support and encouragement to all of them in a situation like this. I honestly wish things go better for them in next TMA if they decide to stay.

Just 5 months now...and counting

In 5 months my route towards my BSc will have finished, hopefully everything will end up positively for me and I will be in the disposition to apply for my Masters some months later (after receiving my final grades).

TM470 is meaning a lot of work for me, a lot; everyday working on it up to 00:00 or 01:00 in the morning and the weekends being mainly "project weekends". When I uploaded the TMA02 three days ago, my body reacted like when someone reaches the goal in athleticism, I felt relief and suddenly I was exhausted. All the cumulative effort made itself so notorious that I needed to go to sleep.

My second TMA was 96 pages in total. Following advice from my tutor I'm heading through the EMA on every TMA.  Hopefully the transition between TMA03 and EMA will be easier this way.

In case you want to tell me something

Please, in case you want to tell me something be aware that this is a blog that has the comments hidden for a reason. I decided to hide the comments and apply comments revision after a bad experience some months ago.

I will publish all those comments that are respectful and do not contain what I consider sensitive information in it.

I do not provide TMAs, module PDFs or old exams to anyone, do not add advertisements of any kind to my blog and will not accept any type of insult, threat, etc. as part of the comments towards myself or others.

In principle, unless it is very well justified I will not contact anyone that leaves their email as part of a comment even if they ask for it and I will not publish those comments either (in fact I delete them).

So, unless I know you personally based on my real life or by prolonged contact in this blog please do not assume I will contact you just because you left your email inside a comment, I won't.

If you want to tell me something, please feel free to do it as part of a comment. You can add a request for the message to be deleted and/or not published and unless I need it as a proof of something I will delete it after reading it in those cases.

I'm glad that this blog is a way of sharing and encouraging each other, I'm always open to people that wants to share their thoughts freely and respectfully. I hope you all understand and this will not stop you to comment and share here.

6 months left

Today I received my results from TMA01 and all the hard work has finally given its fruits: 92%

It's not a bad start at all, having read and highlighted the entire book "Projects in Computing and Information Systems. A Student's Guide" by Christian W. Dawson has helped but it also helps to read carefully what is expected to be present on the TMA.

So far I think this is the module that demands more time, effort and dedication in the entire BSc. Maybe it's because my idea is an original idea and I need to do a lot of work just to have it up and running but maybe not and all of us are exactly in the same situation. I cannot see why my case would be different from others, so I assume all of us are under pressure ;-).

As an advice for all those ones taking this module in a future: It's not easy to fit all the tasks in the allocated time, remember: "it implies hard work", a lot of it.

For some reason this year the forum moderator tended to show as "acceptable" mostly original ideas and not extensions or versions of something already existing. Some of the comments have been quite devastating and I have to recognise I felt relief when my second idea was well received. I would have expected that approach on original ideas to be present in the research module of a PhD but not exactly for a BSc.

After that I relaxed until the beginning of the project on 1st February as a way to avoid engaging into the preparation forum just for ending being told my idea wasn't good enough or similar...and haven't relaxed since the module started ;-).

My tutor is very kind and encouraging, I hope the allocated time it's enough for me to finish the project and learn a lot of new things. It looks that I lost my 8% because I did not reflect on my process at the level I could have done.

I had this same issue in BU130 where I passed from a 69% (OCAS) to a 44% (OES), that have been my lowest grade with The OU (by difference) and believe it or not it happened because I'm a very reflective person (maybe too much) and when I need to talk about something in a module that expects you to make a new reflective process for it, as I do it as normal and it's not new for me at all I cannot find what is the thing that is so different to what I do every day for me to add it to the TMA. On the other hand if I add all the things that I reflect on it would be a book instead of a TMA.

I will need to find the equilibrium on this.

It's being engaging and also interesting, on the other side of things I do not have free time at all, my weekends are "project weekends" and my life can be summarised as "house work - project work - job work".

Only 6 months and it will be over, hopefully with a BSc (Hons) Computing under my belt a few months later.

I contacted the Uni in Sweden and they have just told me that I cannot apply this year because my BSc results are released in December and the Masters degree starts in August, so it will be a 2015 start for me if they accept me next year.