Personal one to one computer tuition

Introduction

Hi there. My name is Terry Prett and I have lived in South Croydon since 2000. In this section I'll tell you about my occupational background, the skills which enable me to provide the computer security information you need and some of my miscellaneous interests.

Occupational background

It's now over a quarter of a century since I first worked in IT. I began by working on databases and then moved into web based programming. Here I started to come across the computer safety issues I'll be talking about in the Web Safety Guru training sessions: security, passwords and viruses for example.

After a spell in the travel sector, I moved into loyalty marketing. Loyalty marketing involves the collection and storing of customer information with the intention of building up a detailed profile of each customer. This will include their name, address, age, sex, likes and preferences. Once a company has collected this information, it can sell targeted products to customers.

Later I moved into affiliate marketing. Affiliate marketing involves tracking the websites people visit, the links they click and the products they buy online. Imagine what you can learn about people if you can combine this information with the profile data for that customer. As a result I have become very concerned about the amount of personal information people give away online and this is one of the key issues I will be talking about on the course.

The importance of good communication

All the knowledge in the world is no good if you cannot communicate it. The IT sector has a reputation (sometimes deserved) for being full of people who talk gobbledegook that only other techies can understand. In my professional career, I have placed great emphasis on interacting well with people from outside the IT department. I've also been a mentor, teaching younger programmers new techniques and how to follow procedures.

With my Web Safety Guru tuition you'll be getting time with someone who's friendly, patient and understanding. I enjoy helping people and teaching them new things. I understand the need to talk in plain English wherever possible and appreciate why some technology might seem a little frustrating or intimidating to many people.

Miscellaneous interests

When I'm not working with computers, I enjoy watching live sport (well, I used to) and taking part in quizzes. Here I am on the ITV quiz show The Chase playing for rather a lot of money.



I've taken part in some high level quiz competitions and am appearing on the 2021/22 series of Only Connect on BBC2.

I also play poker. I have taken part in the famous World Series of Poker in Las Vegas and have won tournaments in the USA, Europe, the UK and online.

For a few years I owned my own independent bookmakers. Stressful work but enormous fun, and I got to meet lots of interesting characters.