Stuart Macdonald, BlueShield IT
Stuart Macdonald is the founder of BlueShield IT which provides IT security solutions to businesses. He started the Graduate Apprenticeship in Cyber Security at Glasgow Caledonian University in October 2020.
When he heard about the scheme, Macdonald, 50, saw the BSc Honours degree as an ideal way to reinforce his company’s commitment to cyber security. His previous experience means he joined the second year of the four-year course.
His lectures, tutorials and seminars are currently delivered online one day a week and he studies further in the evenings.
“It’s fantastic, I’ve been in IT coming up for 30 years and I’d say every day is a school day – it genuinely is because I’ve learnt so much. I’m starting to learn things in depth and that makes a huge difference especially when you are talking to clients who see that I understand all the complexities cyber security involves.
“I’ve learnt new programming skills and I’m using tools I’d heard of but not appreciated their full benefits, so there is great hands-on experience as well as on the theory side.”
It’s also helped his confidence. “I recently did a presentation to over 30 people from the Centre for Engineering Education and Development. I had turned it down last year but going to university has boosted my confidence in my abilities and what I’m learning.”
This case study was originally published in FutureScot.