PROFESSIONALQ CASE STUDY II
"I had the experience and vendor certifications but what I was missing was the official recognition"

Another example of how Milcom's new ProfessionalQ Recognition of Prior Learning service

Typical of many who came to the burgeoning IT industry in the 1970s Bruce Davey accumulated his technical knowledge through self teaching and specific vendor training. And, his career developed opportunistically as technologies evolved.

Now Mr Davey, and many like him, are finding they need formal qualifications to be able to redirect their careers or to take on management roles, in what is now a mature and highly demanding industry.

Late last year he had decided to undertake the requisite study to gain a formal tertiary diploma: "Fortuitously at that time a recruitment agency sent me information on Milcom's ProfessionalQ service and it sounded as though it would suit me to a T," Mr Davey said.

His career began as an electronics and communications apprentice in the Navy and over the ensuing years in various private and public sector organisations he moved from electronic engineering roles to pure IT roles in the early mainframe and mini environments.

As a systems engineer he has worked in Unix, Windows and Apple environments and gained certifications in the specific vendor technologies.

"I had the experience and vendor certifications but what I was missing was the official recognition," he said.

Mr Davey registered for Milcom's PQ service and began the process of tabling a comprehensive portfolio of his achievements.

While PQ is a web based service, Milcom assigns a mentor from a pool of TAFE accredited industry experts to each candidate. Their role is to help relate career experience to the formal competency based standards of the RPL process.

"My mentor was invaluable as an industry assessor and in relating the elements of my CV to the qualifications being sought," he said. "It was this filtering process that made it all happen as well as maintaining the validity of the process".

And of course ProfessionalQ not only recognised the IT-specific elements of Mr Davey's career but also other aspects such as the invaluable expertise he gained in running his own businesses and by undertaking Quality Assurance training.

"Importantly, while PQ is on the web it's not a sausage process. It is automated and standardised for recognising the competency based elements. But the human element is very evident, very knowledgeable and helps identify individual expertise."

"Milcom's mechanisms make the outcome meaningful for prospective employers.

In January 2001 Bruce was awarded a Diploma of IT (Network Engineering) from TAFE NSW.

"I can now meet the formal requirements of job specifications and I have a Milcom endorsed resume to present to recruitment agencies," he said.

At ProfessionalQ.com you can complete an initial self-assessment free of charge.

This confidential service allows you to clearly and easily see how your knowledge equates to potential qualifications.