6/21/2005 11:02:00 PM|||James O'Malley|||

Hi gang. It's me, James O'Malley. The resident computer wizz-kid. (That should probably be wizz-adult now, though). My virtual empire has outposts in the bleakest corners of the interweb... from Pokémon, to satire, to flashy gimmicks. I know HTML, CSS (if you can "know" them), Javascript, PHP, and bits and pieces of actionscript and other languages. I can tell you all about hardware, I can put new components into a computer (shock, horror), I can use a wide variety of software. I can edit video. I spend every hour awake at home online, and in some cases, when not awake. I can label the input and output devices of a desktop computer without the need for a box containing each of the words for me to draw lines from.

I live my life in this virtual world that I clearly must like an awful lot.

Why the feck did my ICT exam go so badly?

ICT4 was about "information systems in organisations", which roughly translates to "buzzwords and management talk 101". Don't get me wrong- these buzzwords arn't computer jargon. That'd be bar too complex. The words "computer", "hard disk", "memory" and so on didn't feature in this Information Technology exam. These buzzwords are things like "management information system", "implementation", "testing plan", "blue sky thinking". It's ridiculous.

This qualification isn't worth the paper its written on. What are the people who somehow manage to pass going to be able to do? Create and write an information system? No. The syllabus doesn't cover any programming languages and so on.

These people will be able to tell you about the feasibility study carried out to determine whether a new system is worth developing.

Now, I'm no expert, but doesn't all of the feasibility study go without saying? Something non-cretins would do in their heads before pursuing any new system? Can it be done? Can we afford it? Is it legal? Can people use it? Can it be completed in time?

All blindingly obvious questions.

As you might have guessed, I'm angry. Piece of advice kids: don't pick A-level ICT as it's only for jobsworth middle-managers and people who want to sound important by using buzzwords.

|||111939296642262546|||IT's a load of rubbish