With three children under the age of two, launching into degree study was a big ask for Malcolm Blake. But seeing it as a “now or never” decision, the then 35-year-old enrolled for EIT’s Bachelor of Computing Systems.
This week, the family are celebrating Malcolm’s graduation. Emerging from “a crazy time”, when he and his “very supportive” wife Talia stretched their finances and juggled the demands of raising kids, work and study, Malcolm is now enjoying a full-time job and feels it’s all been totally worth it.
And, he jokes, he’s also pleased to be able to foot it now with Talia who, with a Bachelor of Nursing from EIT, “has been lording it over me for years”.
The couple met and married in Napier and moved to Auckland where Talia secured a nursing job immediately after finishing her degree. Malcolm’s career pathway hasn’t been so straightforward.
“I floundered a bit after leaving school,” says the former St John’s College student. “I studied electrical engineering at EIT but found it didn’t align with what I wanted to do. All I wanted to do was play drums,” he adds with a smile.
Malcolm moved from retail to work in a wholesale position in the music industry in Auckland and, with two incomes and no pressing financial commitments, the couple enjoyed big city living.
It was the arrival of their firstborn five years ago that triggered a rethink. Talia had taken time off work to care for baby Theo, and, grappling with Auckland’s pricey rental housing market, Malcolm sought better paying work.
“I applied for 60 jobs and only got three call-backs. Seeing how other kids were growing up in Auckland, without the backyards we’d known as children, we decided to return to Hawke’s Bay as a lifestyle choice. We thought there were other things I could do for work.”
The couple learnt shortly before the big move that they were expecting twins. Identical boys, Ezra and Jesse were just six months old when Malcolm started at EIT.
So how did he cope with tertiary study?
“My brain was sore,” he recalls. “The work wasn’t so hard so much as getting into a routine as well with the kids waking us up three times a night. What was hard work was getting my brain back in and concentrating, leaving the drama at home behind.”
Malcolm achieved great results, managing an A grade average. A Rotary Club of Taradale scholarship gave him $750 to put towards study-related equipment and textbooks.
After working his internship at NOW, the locally-based broadband and phone line provider offered him a full-time position as a junior software developer. As a NOW ‘consultant’, Malcolm taught other final-year students about technology used by the company, challenging them with real world business problems.
Malcolm says a plus for the degree was that it refined his pre-existing business skills. Assistant head of school Dr David Skelton says the programming skills he developed under the mentoring of lecturer Dr Paul Dechering was also a key to his securing the internship.
Now, with studies behind him, Malcolm has more time for family and to devote to drumming – “and I have the skills to set up a website for the band,” he muses.