Dear Sir / Madam,

The reason I am applying for this course is to advance my career through further study and to create career opportunities for myself. I have gained significant experience in the relevant fields through my work as a Computer Programmer for various international companies.

My computer background began when I was 5 years old. At that time I used the computer access at home to experiment with various MS-DOS commands from the manuals available to me. I created my first applications in Microsoft Quick Basic when I was 7 years old. From that time onwards, I wanted to be a computer programmer.

My first contact with real programming was at 12 when I attended programming classes in Pascal, intended for High School students aged 15. The classes consisted of UML flow charts, advanced IDE, interfaces, units, functions, procedures, variable scope, variable types, control statements, loops, compilation, optimization, error handling mechanisms, testing, debugging, how to set up breakpoints, code tracing, ASCII table, numeric bases, and more.

The above course was extremely beneficial because it stimulated me both linguistically and congnitively. I was a quick learner and started achieving very good results immediately. The programming classes offered scope to employ my own creativity and to experiment with the unknown, which was how I discovered many useful tools such as Turbo Debugger. This application was vital to explore compiled code and to memorize the basic x86 assembly instruction set, which I later used for direct hardware access, such as accessing the mouse via int 33h, or VESA via int 10h.

At 14, I began studying the principles of object-oriented programming, together with Delphi. Delphi is a RAD (Rapid Application Development) environment which comes with a fully featured DBMS (Database Management System) known as Interbase. I learned how to develop simple desktop applications for Windows, worked with the relational database, TCP/IP, video, audio, and with a graphical user interface.

Information and Communication Technology classes in elementary school helped me to begin writing HTML without a WYSIWYG and to understand the benefits of doing so. The teacher was always delighted to explain more advanced topics beyond the scope of the curriculum to talented students. This is how I learned to create advanced graphics with many impressive effects in RealDraw Pro, including vector graphics, and had an introduction to semantics, and CSS.

Prior to choosing a High School, my aim was to study Computing. Unfortunately, the portfolio of available High Schools in the Northern Czech Republic wasn’t very rich, so I had to satisfy with a different specialization, which was Mechanics and Electronics.

At the High school, the Information and Communication Technology syllabus for the entire 4 years wasn’t very challenging. It started with MS-DOS commands, continued with the basics of MS Office, and ended with the basics of programming in Pascal. I could already demonstrate a very advanced knowledge of all those, and wanted to learn more, which was not possible there. The teacher recognized my talent, and enlisted me to solve some other specific problems for him, unrelated to the syllabus. I knew there would be nothing in the following 4 years that I could learn about computers in High School, and I had almost no time for computers at home. I felt frustrated, until finally I abandoned my studies In the middle of my 2nd grade to continue learning on my own about computers.

As a result, I discovered GNU/Linux, learned how to compile the kernel, to control the system via the command-line, to install a LAMP server, and started freelance Web Development with (X)HTML, CSS, PHP, MySQL and  BASH scripting.

At 17, I took a European Computer Driving License course and achieved certification. The course consisted of 7 units: Concepts of ICT, Using the Computer & Managing Files, Word Processing, Spreadsheets, Using Databases, Presentation, Web Browsing and Communication. I really liked the teacher because he explained clearly and in detail how SQL databases work, including associations with foreign keys, indexes, triggers, and he performed very well also with networking and common protocols. This ECDL course lecturer was actually a capable C++ programmer with a good knowledge of UML, security, and system administration skills. He was also familiar with UNIX-like operating systems. That is how I became inspired to learn about these areas.

Between the age of 17 and 19, I intensively studied UNIX-like system administration and networking, KDE and GNOME, LAMP Web Development, system / application / network security, validity, and semantics, and I also read interesting fragments of source code from many OpenSource projects including low-level drivers and utilities written in C, and high-level code such as CMS and e-commerce systems written in PHP.

At 19, I started my career in IT and enhanced my existing skills when I learned two more exciting languages: C++ and JAVA. I continued working hard on Web Development, systems / network administration, and security.

At the age of 23, I had enough experience and confidence to relocate from the Czech Republic to London with the ultimate goal of obtaining a degree in Computing while keeping my solid career as a Software Engineer.

I am very determined, motivated, and much better organized than when I was younger. I believe this course will help me more than anything to discover the remaining aspects of Informatics and Computing. The official qualification can help to achieve some really worthwhile results. In long-term, I strive gradually to fulfill my full potential. A first degree will open the door to further study.