The program introduced web development, software development, and many more languages than I was learning on my own. Now I am a Full Stack Web Developer. Not bad for a kid who was making games in his parent's basement."

Zac, Computer Programming 2021

Zac turned a hobby into a career he loves

“After I graduated High School, I didn’t know what I wanted to do. I took a “year off” and worked full time. This one year off turned into two… When I did decide to go back to school, I still didn’t know what I wanted to do, but because I had so many friends going to university/college, graduating, and finding jobs I felt pressured to get started. I enrolled for a Bachelor of Arts in English, but I didn’t feel challenged enough by the program, so, rather than waste my money on education I knew I didn’t want, I took another year off. I worked whatever hours I could, helped my family out when I could, and during this year I rediscovered a hobby I started in high school.

At the time, I was teaching myself to program by making mods for Minecraft. I had really enjoyed it, but for some reason, I stopped. Now I had fully rediscovered this lost passion for programming. I had been teaching myself C# and making games, and a voice in the back of my head told me that I should take this further. So I went to Algonquin College’s website and found they offered computer programming online. At the time this was perfect because I still needed to work as many hours as possible, and online would offer me the flexibility to do this. I applied to the program, and in the fastest turnaround time, I was accepted into the program!

The facilitators were extremely flexible, especially when it came to technical difficulties. Unlike the other post-secondary facilities I attended, my class registration was done for me by the staff (apart from electives). This removed the unneeded stress of managing what classes I need to take and when I needed to take them to graduate.

For me, learning online offered the advantage of a flexible schedule. Since there were no class times, I could study or work on assignments whenever I wanted/needed. This allowed me to work more hours than I could have if I attended in-person classes.

My life has never been easy. But a random thought in the back of my mind had me apply to AC online, and 2 years later I graduated with Honours and am now in a career. I can see a future for myself for the first time in forever. I made it happen for myself, but AC Online was the tool I used. In-person learning/online learning… either way, school is hard. Life is hard. But if you need flexibility, AC Online is the place to look.”

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