Another Year Of Student Life Completed Successfully.

When And Why My Student Journey Started

Another Year Of Student Life Completed Successfully! Two years ago I embarked on the start of a five-year journey to gain a new career. After fifteen years (at the time) of self-employment, I made the decision, it was time to do something new. The decision was driven by multiple factors, some personal others economic.

Economic Reasons

Self-driving vehicles are coming. There is much debate over how long it will take for them to become established. However, once they do there is little doubt about the effects it will have on people who drive for a living. Additionally, the changing ways in which people are socialising meant business turnover declining. Retraining takes a substantial amount of time and is not something I am prepared to leave to the last minute.

Personal Reasons

I made some pretty dramatic changes to my personal life three years ago. Those changes left me with a desire to completely turn the page. 1st Class Travel while still providing my primary income, no longer feels like my future. It feels like part of a life I chose to leave behind. This feeling combined with my long term view of the businesses viability drove me to look at my future with fresh eyes.

Another Year Of Student Life – Results So Far

I finished the Access To Computing diploma at York College a year ago with a Distinction and started a four-year-long integrated masters in Computer Science at the University of Hull. This week I got the last of my results from my first year of University. If I can maintain this level of work I will come out with a 1st.

Update as of 27th August 2019. I have published my Object Orientated programming project now that all the Covid19 Mitigating circumstance extensions have passed. Details can be found on Uno – First Year C# Project using WPF.

Italian Language Studies.

At the start of the academic year, I also began an Italian course. Ultimately running a business, doing a full-time degree and adding an extra course proved too much. However, instead of stopping completely, I continued doing fifteen minutes per day on the Duo Lingo App. Languages are certainly not my forte but with another year of student life completed successfully, I have made steady progress. Initially, my first attempt at each lesson was a failure. As the year progressed, things improved. Now my first attempt at each lesson is fifty per cent successful. It is my intention to give the formal qualification another attempt at a later date when I have a sturdy foundation in place.

Another Year Of Student Life – Server Administration

The Fire And Ice OpenSim Grid was established almost nine months ago. In that time it has grown to be self-funding. There are now 117 registered users and sixty sims active on the grid. Running the grid has a duel purpose. I have been passionate about virtual worlds for close to twenty years, and running my own has helped to teach me about many aspects of the server admin. The contents of this blog are a testament to the journey I have made in this area. Please see previous posts for details.

• Setup Ubuntu 20.04 for Opensimulator
• Opensim with multiple Robust services on Ubuntu
• Automated Opensim Startup and Shutdown
• Ubuntu Opensim Server Backup.
• Securing An Opensim Ubuntu Server

Another Year Of Student Life – So what about your business?

1st Class Travel continues to operate and will continue to do so for a few years more. The COVID-19 pandemic servery effected the turn over of the business. Due to the government’s self-employed help scheme and extra money from student loans, the company has survived and continues to trade.