Help yourself to a more rewarding future...

Beaconsfield man goes from sea dives to C:\drives

When it comes to a career challenge, Beaconsfield resident Tudor Britton, is not afraid to jump in at the deep end.

The 31-year-old scuba diver has swapped a career undersea for one in IT.

Last year the scuba diving instructor retrained as an IT technician in order to net a more stable career and income. But the path has not been easy in today’s tough job market.

Tudor spent most of his 20s under the waves, having trained as a dive master and later a diving instructor.

He spent three years swimming some of the world’s most beautiful oceans and discovering shipwrecks but soon realised that the work was too seasonal.

He said: “The job was incredible - I got to give people a chance to do something I loved doing and seeing the faces of kids who leant to dive for the first time was incredibly rewarding.

“There was also great danger and responsibility in the job as I was a hyperbaric chamber tender, which meant that if anyone suffered from the bends while diving I would go into the chamber with them. I’d essentially be the doctor’s eyes and ears on the inside.

“I’ll never forget the time I was teaching a 10 year old to dive and he asked if he could bring his baby brother with him. I had to say no but then he said ‘it’s ok he can hold his breath’!

“I dived all over the world but at the start of 2010 I realised that the work wasn’t stable enough throughout the year. It was time I found myself a steady job.

“I had worked in IT before I went into scuba diving and decided that I wanted to go down that career path again but as I had no IT qualifications, I found it incredibly difficult to get back into the industry.

“The job and economic climate had changed a great deal while I was away diving and I found myself struggling to get back into a highly-competitive market, despite the experience I had.

“Luckily, I came across a company called Computeach, which retrains people for careers in IT and also helps them find employment at the end of their course. It was just what I was looking for and I enrolled on the Comptia A+ course, which teaches all the hardware support skills you need to become an IT technician.

“I studied from home and was able to interact with tutors and other students over the internet, which was a great help. It was like an online support network with people there to help you whatever time of day or night!

“Now I’ve completed my course I’ve landed a great job as an IT technician for an insurance broker in London, which is great. I hope to move up the ladder but my main focus is to expand my knowledge and I’m now back studying with Computeach for my MCDST, which is one of the most widely recognised technical certifications in the IT industry.

“Getting back into a steady, nine to five job has been hard work but my advice to anyone else would be to never give up. You have to take your future into your own hands and if qualifications are what you need then go for it. With home learning courses like those at Computeach, you don’t have to face going back into the classroom and you can do it at your own pace. It will all be worth it in the end!”