Matthew Eaves, Entrepreneur and Businessman

I chose Anglia Ruskin because it was in the next town and I had a great little job that would fit with university life. I lived with my parents and although I never had the experience of university life away from home, I needed the money and didn't want to leave in debt.

On my first day on the Chelmsford campus I bumped into a very old looking lecturer (in traditional tweed jacket with the patches on the arm) who looked like he had just been dug up. He asked me where I was going, and I replied I was a new graduate in the Business School. I remember vividly being poked in the chest and told I was an 'UNDERgraduate' not a 'graduate' and that I would be far better off enrolling on a course in his department. He told me his course "was not run by boring old lecturers and used computers". I liked computers, so followed him and was duly enrolled onto the Business Information Systems course in the Design and Information Communication Systems department (they called it DACS). He then reminded me again that I was an 'UNDERgraduate', prodded me some more and then patted me on the head before walking back towards the building where he had intercepted me.

I still shake my head in disbelief that I'd been hijacked on my first day. The lecturer was apparently intercepting new arrivals outside a rival building and attempting to convert them onto his own course. I'd taken the bait, followed him out of North Building and signed up in the Johnson Building. It turned out to be one of the strangest impulse decisions I'd made in my life, but I left three years later with a 1st class degree, so my advice is to take risks and talk to strangers!

I'm dyslexic and had struggled with traditional teaching and learning at school and college. At Anglia Ruskin I had more control over my learning and was able to build the course around my learning style. I signed up for courses that were assignment based or involved group projects. I realised that I was good at learning and finally found I could score highly and achieve. I was hijacked (again) at graduation by a lecturer who wanted me to enrol on a Masters course. I went to his office and was met by another staff member who ran a lab at Anglia Ruskin that researched the use of new and emerging technology in learning. My Masters interview turned into a job interview and two weeks later I was employed. I worked there for six years, and travelled all over the world.

Since then I have had four businesses. I gave the first business away when I got bored with it; I went bust with another business due to the recession and the change of Government; and I have put my third business on ice until the economy lifts. I am currently co-running a company that builds software and delivers learning solutions to customers all over the world and hope to continue its success.

I wrote a blog post in 2004 about tips for flying long haul; over a year it got half a million visitors. It was eventually expanded into a book and published - ironic really, because I now dislike flying! I got chatting to a girl in an Apple Store (Justina) back in 2005, and we married in Florida in 2010. We now have a son, Ryan, and another child due in March. Another reason to risk talking to strangers!

Matthew Eaves
BSc Hons Business Information Systems, 2000
www.mattheweaves.co.uk