Wisdom is elusive, but education goes a long way to tracking and pinning it down.
If it weren’t such a demeaning term Murray Langley could be the EIT’s ‘Poster Boy’. Since completing the Advanced Diploma of Electrical and Instrumentation (E & I) Engineering for Mining (DMN), he has successfully passed the Vocational Graduate Diploma of Project Management in Industrial Automation (GPI) and has commenced the Graduate Diploma of Project Management in Electrical Engineering (GPE). Quite remarkable!
Like most other EIT students Murray has achieved these qualifications whilst pursuing a demanding career. He is with Cristal Mining Australia as Project Coordinator Electrical & Instrumentation for their East Australian mining sites. (A promotion, he believes, was aided by his study with EIT.)
Inevitably, despite being busy, it is his career which was and continues to be his primary motivator for education. To be more specific, he aims to enhance his knowledge-base, improve his opportunities within the company and his professional standing in Australia.
Let us get back to that somewhat incongruous title! It was actually inspired by Murray, who, describes the positive effect his study with the EIT has had on him. We know that ‘wisdom’ is associated with aging, but merely entering one’s dotage is most often not enough. It is invariably a combination of lessons; both academic and those dealt by life, which may qualify a person to own such a label. Education, on the other hand, when it is relevant, practical and properly targeted will most often achieve its ends, including; expertise, confidence and insight.
Murray wrote that he saw himself as “more professional” and that he can now “approach my project work much more strategically; having developed a much better understanding of financial, planning and implementation processes that make projects successful.” And, assuredly, to Cristal Mining’s delight, “I have become much more astute regarding valuing projects and understanding how to reduce costs and ensure sustainability.”
Pursuing part time study, however, is challenging. For Murray it is the pressure of completing the requisite assignments. He explains what is necessary, “…a great deal of persistence and time management, to ensure I am able to complete work within time-frames.” On the other hand, he feels a highlight of this particular teaching methodology is the ability to discuss content issues and challenges with lecturers during the interactive webinar sessions. He goes on to kindly praise EIT for its professionalism and is very pleased that his qualifications will allow him to feed in to the EIT’s new master degree. Finally, Murray has a piece of advice for would be students:
“Download Moodle onto your phone!” (This is the Learning Management System that we use)
And he adds something heartening:
“Persevere! The work is not that hard for someone who has been in the industry for a while.”
A great big thank you to Murray for his assistance in writing this.
