IT wizard on track for national competition success

Caption: WorldSkills UK Logo

IT student Jordan Tolley, 17 from Nuneaton has won first place in a regional heat of the UK Skills IT Software Solutions for Business competition.

The heat took place at Bedford College and is one of many being held around the UK, providing the highest-scoring students with a chance to compete on a national platform at WorldSkills UK LIVE at the NEC in November. Only students with the top eight best scores will go through to the country’s biggest skills and careers event.

The competition involved tackling tasks based on Microsoft Office programmes, Word and Excel. Jordan was required to produce forms and spreadsheets incorporating features such as radio buttons, macros and pivot tables against the clock.

Jordan was inspired to take part by tutor Wendy Beckett who leads on preparing college students for this particular IT competition.

Jordan said, “I met up with Wendy every week in college since last October to practice and get ready for the competition. We covered all types of advanced word processing from mail merging to form creation.”

“With so much practice, I felt confident and ready for anything. Entering competitions has definitely helped me with my computing course and I’ve been achieving higher marks for my assignments too.

“I’m able to test my skills, improve my knowledge and get ready for what I want to do in the future. Success in competitions is also great for my CV.”

Jordan is due to complete another year at college to complete his technical diploma in IT. He then plans to go to university and study a computing and/or networking degree.

Tutor Wendy Beckett said, “We’re very proud of Jordan’s success. He has worked hard to get to this stage, giving up his own time to attend training sessions. His work has also helped him to obtain better grades as he has been able to use some of the skills he has learnt and apply them to his coursework.

“We wish him luck for winning a place at WorldSkills UK LIVE and look forward to supporting him with the knowledge and skills to be successful there too.”

If Jordan is successful in reaching the finals, he will be challenged to work with planning tool Visio, and on building and interrogating databases, in addition to further word processing and spreadsheet challenges.

Click here to find out more about IT and Computing courses at the College.