23rd Jan 2024

Caitriona McDonald – Graduate, Higher Diploma in Science in AI Applications

Caitriona McDonald

Challenges are what make life interesting; overcoming them is what makes life meaningful” – Joshua J. Marine.

“Since originally graduating as an Electronic Engineer I worked for 20 years in ICT. It is a career that suits me as I love learning and it is an ever changing industry requiring you to keep up to date with emerging technologies and applications.

Artificial Intelligence is an area that will evolve at pace in the coming years. As an application analyst I needed a comprehensive understanding of what was involved and how I could improve services for my business users. Digital transformation projects are ongoing in all organisations currently and AI is a fundamental part of all digital automation and development.

I work full-time, with 4 kids and do my best to stay active, planning my year around various marathons and triathlons. I enjoy challenging myself and the pandemic gave me a unique opportunity to reflect and prioritise what I wanted to do with my newly founded ‘free time’ as the kids had no evening activities.

Living in Laois, it was ideal for me to be able to study with CCT completely online. Learning has changed so much since studying for my primary degree. It is much more interactive and interesting that I didn’t mind logging on two evenings a week for the 3.5 hours at the end of the working day.

I got hands-on experience working through questions in labs on various Saturdays and lecturers were always available to walk through problems. I had regular assignments in each of the modules, both individual and group projects and online quizzes.

There was a lot of planning in balancing it all and meeting assignment deadlines but like anything you work hard for, it was very rewarding learning a subject area to such a high level so if you’re thinking about it my advice is to just go ahead and do it.

I was fortunate to qualify for the course funding through Springboard+ and the Human Capital Initiative (HCI) and therefore it was great value for money. I was very impressed with CCT College from the onset. The technology worked well. The Moodle platform was well structured and easy to find the module content, the weekly presentations and links for the Zoom classes and recordings. The lecturers were very knowledgeable and experienced, making the learning achievable and engaging.”

Caitriona McDonald studied the Higher Diploma in Science in Artificial Intelligence Applications at CCT College Dublin.