Sarah Campton
“CDDA is a great working environment and the perfect kind of job I want. It has helped me discover what path I want to go down and the staff help you every step of the way when you need them”
My name is Sarah Campton. I am currently at Hugh J O'Boyle Training Agency doing a course 'Training for Success in ICT'. My work placement is in Centre for Data Digitisation and Analysis (CDDA) at Queen's University Belfast and I really enjoy it. I also went to Belfast Metropolitan College in Castlereagh for a year; there I studied Health and Social Care. I did love this course and would love to work with children, but I felt that ICT had more career and work opportunities and is the kind of work I would like to continue with. I went to Lagan Integrated College and I was a good student although I did not wish to continue to sixth year so I left. My favourite subject in school were English and Maths. I left to find a more relaxed environment because I did not work well in a structured classroom; going to the Belfast Metropolitan was a great experience for me as it was the first time in my life I had to start completely fresh, that gave me more confidence in myself. Going to Hugh J O'Boyle has given me a taste of what it would be like in a real working environment, it suits me a lot better than school and I really enjoy being in CDDA three days a week.
Currently I have passed my Level two in ICT and Maths and I am doing level two English in Hugh J O'Boyle. CDDA are putting me through my ECDL which is an ICT qualification recognised all over Europe. CDDA is a great working environment and the perfect kind of job I want. It has helped me discover what path I want to go down and the staff help you every step of the way when you need them. Also the tutors in Hugh J O'Boyle are great when you have a problem or question and always let you know what you need to do to achieve your goals. ICT or Business Administration is the path I want to go down. At CDDA I have learnt to use different equipment and software.
I have been able to work on several small projects using my training to scan and extract information from a wide range of difficult pieces of historical materials, one project being the 'Nevin Spence Centre' at Ulster Rugby, Ravenhill. Again for this project I am using Microsoft products such as Excel, Access, Adobe Dreamweaver PHP and it's great to see the possible end results on the new web pages and how people might use and view the materials in the future. Training also involves PowerPoint presentations in front of the staff, on one occasion it was Health and Safety. I also take on general duties such as photocopying and filing. Of course all my work is supervised and checked by the CDDA senior team.
After this I want to move on to a job or go back to the Belfast Metropolitan to complete more qualifications in ICT.