Tag: Continuing Education

So back in October I had described my journey to earn a shiny new Certificate in Relational Databases. With all the craziness that has occurred in Calgary in the last few days, I didn’t get around to this post, but on Wednesday, the day before the flood, I had my graduation ceremony.

Truth be told, I wasn’t sure I was going to go. But after discussing with Sony, she made me realize that I had to go. Of course, for the occasion itself and the celebration of completing the courses, but we actually thought that the fact I was graduating would be entertaining. Anyone who knew about this certificate would remember that it wasn’t the most fun undertaking. I was happy to be doing the courses, and the first few were great (fundamentals of relational databases and SQL querying 1 and 2). But administration wasn’t quite my thing, and business intelligence turned out to be one of the most poorly delivered classes I’ve ever taken. After the disaster that was BI (i.e. it received the worst feedback ever for the ICT department of continuing education), the certificate in relational databases was discontinued and replace by a certificate in database administration. And I completed the certificate using tuition support from the university, and because of the availability of the credits and the timing of the courses, the certificate took over a year to complete! In any case, there was a certain hilarity to all of it. Also, since my friend Paul graduated recently with a PhD, I thought I could ‘one up’ him with my certificate. In order to do so, I had to attend the ceremony 🙂

So I wasn’t sure what to expect. Sony and I arrived at the Red & White Club at the Olympic Volunteer Centre and we were surprised by what we saw. A lovely banquet area with chairs set up for a ceremony; refreshments with space for a full reception afterwards; and the number of people in attendance. There were so many families there- individuals with proud significant others and spouses; mothers and fathers who had worked hard while raising a family to get a leg up in their industry; recent immigrants to Canada upgrading or developing skills in order to successfully enter the workforce; and business leaders gaining extra credentials to help them in their careers. Looking around I felt proud to be among the graduates. Even though there’s a certain hilarity in my own path to getting the certificate, it was amazing to see many proud individuals around me, all celebrating lifelong learning and continuing advancement. Dr. Elizabeth Cannon, president of the University of Calgary, was there to shake hands, as well as Scott McLean, Director of Continuing Education. I guess it was nerves, but apparently I ran across the stage in lightning speed! That’s okay, I went back afterward for a photo with the two.

All in all, it was a wonderful evening. The ceremony was great, and the selection of food, drinks and snacks at the reception did not disappoint. Maybe it’s time to restart my journey for the Spanish language certificate! Let’s just say it didn’t go so well the first time…