I mentioned yesterday that I'm about to start studying again after a break of ages. My employer have kindly agreed to fund the Certificate in Web Applications Development course and I should be starting in October.

I may have mentioned this last year because I was all set to start it then, admin problems meant that I missed the registration deadline by a day and there was nothing that could be done about it.

The reason I've chosen this particular course is that the skills I should learn will be of immediate practical use in my current role. My job has evolved to include massive amounts of management reporting and analysis, it's something that I've been very successful at providing (even if I do say so myself!). The "problem" is that the suite of automated reports and user interfaces are all done in Access and, although it works very well, it limits the accessibility of the system somewhat. The plan is to create a Web-based system where individuals can access relevant information to their projects, I just don't have the skills at the moment.

I'm quite excited about getting started because for once I have the time and the enthusiasm to put the work in, plus if it all works out well I should expect some serious recognition for my efforts (that may seem mercenary but I give a lot).