Richard Smith

Senior lecturer delivering the Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA), Cisco Certified Networking Associate (CCNA) Security curriculum, IT Essentials (CompTIA A+), EMC, VMware and Citrix which provide career oriented coverage of introductory and advanced networking skills, whilst also providing opportunities for hands-on practical experience and soft-skills development.

Richard has carried out a diverse range of duties within an 8-year career in the Army as part of the Royal Engineers, specialising in various engineering roles including maintenance and repair of heavy mechanical engineering and plant equipment. 

Upon leaving the army he moved into the IT industry starting as a certified computer technician and then migrating into networking where he now is qualified across multiple industry vendors on both the infrastructure and client side and delivers both student and instructor training across those courses.

Current activity on top of lecturing includes maintaining various systems for the teaching activities and certification vendors for the external test center located at Birmingham City University along with a management role within the Cisco Academy Support Centre (ASC) and Instructor Training Centre (ITC).

Over the years he has been involved in curriculum development and review of various networking courses for worldwide release as part of the Cisco Networking Academy Program. Along with being officially recognised on multiple occasions for being within the top 25% of instructors globally and most recently within the top 10% globally.