Software Developer Marcus Pennington talk/Q&A with year 12&13 Computer Science/Cisco students - In…

On Wednesday 12 February 2020, Software Developer Marcus Pennington visited the school to run a series of talks/Q&A sessions with Year 12 and 13 Computer Science and Cisco students.

Qualifications and hard work

 Marcus spoke about his experience of being a student in Highams Park School and how much he enjoyed it.  He was very open with the students about the fact that he was not as focused as he should have been during his time in school and how this could have potentially hindered his life chances (as by his own  admission this limited his chances of courses at university).  

Marcus initially had a main interest in being a video game developer but his parents were not so keen and instead encouraged him to take up a Computer Science degree instead which he is now glad he took.

The hard work which Marcus applied to his studies at university paid off culminating in him achieving a  1st grade in his final year dissertation and he was able to secure his first job just before he finished his final exams.

Marcus was kind enough to take the students on his journey through school to becoming self employed as a successful developer with his own business MPenn Digital LTD.

Marcus' key advice to our students:

• Pick a career which you love and it will never feel like work.
• Build your interests early through gaining valuable work experience.
• Have a Unique Selling Point (USP) which makes you stand out from others - for Marcus, this was his successful stint as an author of  a Python code book.
• Be money savvy.  Work hard, save hard and try to stay out of debt where possible.

Marcus book:

We thank Marcus for giving up 4 hours of his time to come in and inspire our students today.

Special Thanks goes to Mr Mushtaq, Mr Sikora, Ms Guna and Ms Halkes  for helping to organise/coordinate the session.