Malcolm had taken an interest in computing through his connection with his sons' school. He was spurred to buy himself a BBC micro-computer and taught himself to program on it. When he had decided to leave his job with Lesser Building Systems, he thought to retrain as a progremmer. On seeing an advertiement in the local paper in March 1983, he went along to an induction seminar at Shaftesbury. He was told there that he would be too old to be considered as a programmer but could apply for the Systems Analysis course. As he was already there, he agreed and sat the aptitude test. He was interviewed in Bournemouth on 29 March and succeeded in gaining a place for the course starting in Bournemouth on 17 October. That meant that he would continue working but not tender his resignantion until one month before he was due to leave. By chance, a Systems Analasyst was emgaged at his place of work during those months and Malcolm was able to pick his brains without disclosing his intentions.

The course was a Training Opportunities Scheme (TOPS) sponsored by the government Manpower Services Commission and run by International Computers Ltd. Malcolm had to become unemployed in order to qualify for the course so he and the family were managing on unemployment benefit. The course was held in the East Cliff Hotel in Bournemouth and Malcolm had to borrow Brenda's car as the buses did not run at suitable times. The twenty week course comprised a series of lectures and practical exercises followed by free placement with a local business, the latter which was with McCarthy and Stone of New Milton. Malcolm had gained that place as a result of a casual conversation with a former colleague at his previous job. The placing was to be in the surveyors department, the logic being that if the computing did not turn out well, he could always fall back on to surveying work. These arrangements were only completed a few days before the end of the course.

The course comprised a series of lectures on various aspects of computing augmented by roleplay and presentations. The group were a jolly lot with the exception of the one token nerd. Lunch was taken in the hotel each day also dinner on evenings when the course went on late. Malcolm's neice was working at the nearby Continental Hotel as part of her cookery course and Malcolm was able to give her a lift home on occasions. Sometimes he came home on the late bus.

Some of the roleplay was entertaining. The lecturer acted the part of a computer operated robot and the students had to give instruction to carry out a simple task such as pouring water from a jug into a glass or reversing a car into a garage. The exercise quickly illustrated that a computer knew nothing more than it was told thus to say "pick up the glass", it first needed to know what a glass was, what to use to pick it up and where it was and how to maneouvre to pick it up. Apparently another lecturer had done this example with water in the jug and had dressed in waterproof clothing for the demonstration. The lecturer related a story from another class where the students were told to list all the various combinations to make a cup of coffee. All but one of the students just listed the ingredients that they might use having applied their previous knowledge of making coffee. One student gave every single combination of the ingredients such as 'water and milk' or 'coffee powder and sugar' illustrating that the computer has no self-aquired knowledge.

The course went well for Malcolm and it was indicated to him that he should have no difficulty in completing it and finding work. The only snag might be in taking the examination as he would have fogotten the technique after so many years. This, in fact, proved true. It was an oral exam and Malcolm thought that having given an answer there would be no further debate. However, the examiners were expecting more dialogue and he nearly failed.

The placement with McCarthy and Stone went very well and the company and he was offered full employment by them before his actual period of free placement was completed. Malcolm's advantage was that the company had only recently started to have computers installed so the staff were not yet trained. He, therefore, even with his limited knowledge, knew more than most of them.