Graduate Certificate in Networking and Systems Administration

I wanted to prove something to myself – that a mature aged student, with a family and a business could complete the course! The support from the university and from the IT Masters staff helped me through some of the hard yards! The cheer from my 3 year old daughter when I graduated was enough to make the Chancellor pause!

Pursuing postgraduate study via distance education with CSU is a pleasure. The course has been structured to ensure success and the lecturers and supervisors are more than willing and able to help with any problems you may encounter. The research skills I have developed during this course have allowed me to undertake critical projects within my current employment. This exposes me to senior management and is allowing me to advance my career.

Prior to the course I was in a position of having heaps of industry experience but few formal qualifications. I am now in a position that I have to hire staff and I will be targeting CSU graduates for their relevant and uncommon knowledge.

I had just graduated from my undergraduate degree and was looking for new challenges. The course profile contained subjects that seemed very relevant to the work I was doing as a Regional Network Administrator so I took the plunge and applied.

Prior to the course I was only Cisco certified and now I have a Masters degree and I’m Microsoft certified as well. I’m competent both in Networking and System Administration paths. This is a solid foundation for job security and opens more career opportunities. ITC506 IT Ethics was the most rewarding subject for me. It goes beyond technical skills. This subject taught me to work as a real professional.

CSU offered a flexible way for me to attain higher education tertiary qualifications (through the graduate certificate pathway) that otherwise wouldn’t have been possible as I never did an undergraduate degree. My Masters now augments my years of experience in the IT/Corporate environment.

A work colleague was looking at the IT Masters courses and they sounded like they would be a good option me, having not completed any university previously the idea of getting a Masters with a few years study was very appealing, and it seemed to recognise my experience in the industry better than other options.

I did originally look at completing a Bachelor’s degree in IT, part time, but I found the initial content too basic and the time required to complete it too long. The IT Masters courses were the only ones I found that were at a suitable level of difficulty for someone with my amount of job experience, and that provided a good qualification in an achievable time frame.

It was surely a dream come true as I really wanted to get my Masters degree. It’s really unbelievable once you get into working as a cyber security analyst and consultant and you apply what you have studied, it’s a totally different world. I am enjoying every second of my work. 

I initially went with another course provider and found the subjects on offer were limited. I did a bit more research and stumbled across CSU/IT Masters free short courses and it was like a lightbulb went on in my head. The subjects were what I was after and I signed on to see if it confirmed my idea. That was the best thing I did. The following study session, I found myself eligible for a subject credit and undertaking the Grad Cert program. IT Masters staff have been so supportive and helpful that the transition over was surprisingly easy!

Getting credits for industry courses or the ACS really helps you plan out your study journey – I would have taken at least another 6 months without it. I may not even have joined ACS without the prompting of the course, and their professional development requirements and opportunity to network are great – they are big added bonuses.

Nearly everything was directly applicable to my job. As an example, my final project has formed the basis of an IoT project that I am currently undertaking at work.

The real world experience the IT Masters mentors brought to each subject from their many years’ experience of work in their sectors made their subjects tangible and relatable.

I feel like I had the same people to talk to the whole time – Leif from ITM and Rebecca at CSU were there for my whole journey. The admin side of things felt effortless. People would get back to me and explain what I needed to know, and coach me through it, offering options that worked for me.

Really awesome people – the mentors are very skilled and disciplined. I always had great confidence in the fact that they were all right on top of their fields. I didn’t realise how much I’d enjoy until I got into it. I only went into it to do a Grad Cert and enjoyed the content so much I kept on going. Don’t overwhelm yourself by thinking you have to do it all right now. I just started with two subjects and set mini goals for each section, then the next bit and so on. 

I had such an incredible experience throughout my postgraduate studies with CSU and ITM. The administrative support for all student experience related questions through the application process, transfer of courses from GC to Masters and through my studies was always concise, genuine and timely.