From Warehouse to Cyber Security: My Open University Journey So Far

It is often said that the only constant in life is change. Looking back at my academic and professional journey over the last few years, that phrase feels less like a cliché and more like a daily reality.
Today, I want to share a high-level overview of a project that has been running in the background of my life since 2019: my undergraduate studies with The Open University (OU). While my professional focus is now firmly on Cyber Security and AI, the path to get here wasn’t a straight line. It involved a major pivot, a change in discipline, and navigating the complexities of working full-time while studying.

The Starting Point: 2019, Night Shifts, and the PPE Experiment

My journey with the OU began in 2019, during a period of significant transition in my working life.
I had recently transferred from a smaller, quieter warehouse job with a standard Monday-to-Friday schedule in Kaplan Publishing to a massive, fast-paced Waitrose distribution centre. The new role was intense; I moved to the night shift on a demanding 14-night rota. The decision was purely practical: I needed the night shift allowance for the financial boost, and the schedule was necessary to help manage childcare logistics for my family.
While I value honest work, I knew that I didn’t want to stay on the shop floor forever. My eyes were set on an office-based role, and I knew that to make that transition effectively, I needed to sharpen my skills and formalize my education.
Initially, my plan was a hybrid one. I enrolled in the BA (Honours) Politics, Philosophy and Economics (PPE) program. My thinking was that PPE would give me a broad understanding of how the world works, improve my critical thinking, and refine my soft skills. I intended to supplement this degree by taking separate, non-university IT courses on the side to build technical hard skills.
I launched into my first module, DD103: Investigating the Social World. It was a fascinating dive into social sciences, covering everything from criminology to economics. But for me, it served a second, perhaps more critical purpose: it was a stress test. I needed to prove to myself that I could handle university-level study entirely in English, all while recovering from night shifts.
I passed DD103 with 60 credits. I had my answer: the language barrier was not an issue, and I had the discipline to study despite the exhaustion. I could do this.

The Pivot to Cyber Security (R60)

With the confidence that I could succeed academically, I took a hard look at my career trajectory. While I enjoyed the intellectual challenge of PPE, my real interest—and the clearest path to the career I wanted—was in technology.
I realized that splitting my focus between a humanities degree and separate IT certifications was inefficient. If I wanted to be in tech, I should immerse myself in it completely.
I made the strategic decision to switch my degree target to the BSc (Honours) Cyber Security (Code R60).
This wasn’t a decision I took lightly. Because the two degrees are so different, my 60 credits from DD103 could not be transferred to the Cyber Security qualification. In the strict sense of “degree progress,” I was starting over from zero. However, I don’t view that time as wasted. DD103 gave me the academic foundation and the confidence I needed to tackle the technical challenges that followed.
In fact, I have found that module incredibly helpful even now. The essay-writing and critical analysis skills I developed in DD103 are surprisingly relevant in my technical modules, where structuring a clear argument or report is often just as important as writing code.
(And who knows? Perhaps one day I will return to finish that PPE degree purely for the love of it. I have always followed politics closely, so perhaps I will even end up as a politician one day).

Studying Through the Noise: The Move to Finance

The Open University is designed for people with busy lives, which is fortunate, because my professional life shifted dramatically again in 2022.
I secured a secondment moving from the Waitrose warehouse floor to the John Lewis Partnership Finance department. This was the office-based transition I had been working toward, but it was a steep learning curve. I did not have a background in finance or accounting, so I was learning an entirely new professional language from scratch.
The hard work paid off; what started as a secondment as a Process Administrator turned into a permanent position, and I was eventually promoted to Process Technician.
This step up required even more on-the-job learning and focus. Because of this new workload, I made the conscious decision to slow my studies down. I had to postpone certain modules to ensure I could succeed in my new role. I do not regret this delay at all—I enjoy my current role and the skills I have gained in the corporate sector are invaluable.

What’s Next?

I am now several modules deep into the R60 Cyber Security degree, having moved past the introductory IT modules and into more specialized networking and mathematical territory.
In future posts, I plan to break down the specific modules I have completed so far. I want to share not just what I learned, but how I managed to learn it while navigating career changes, night shifts, and promotions.
For anyone considering the Open University: it is a marathon, not a sprint. But it is a race worth running.

Links:


Share this post:

Share on WhatsApp Share on LinkedIn Share on Pinterest Share on Reddit

Similar Posts