CQU graduates Anne Chidgey and Ashley Smith met on the university computer system in the early 1990s - years before chat rooms and internet romances came into existence.

Anne was a maths and computing student who found that she could chat to fellow students via the VAX computer system.

Ashley calculated his timing for a Calculus lecture coinciding with Anne\'s birthday, and introduced himself in person for the first time.

\"We got married after our final exams and this year will be our 14th wedding anniversary,\" Anne said.

Former Rocky girl Anne and former Mackay guy Ashley now have 5 CQU degrees between them as well as qualifications from other universities. They live in Brisbane.

Anne\'s brother John Chidgey has an honours degree in Electrical Engineering from CQU and her sister Alana Read has a Bachelor of Business degree from CQU. Ashley\'s sister Alexandra Boss is studying towards her degree in business with CQU.

Anne is now an IT Architect working for Mincom and has recently been working in America for one of her company\'s US clients.

She followed her Bachelor of Applied Science (Maths and Computing) degree from CQU with a Graduate Diploma in Information Systems Management from CQU and a Masters in Network and Systems Administration from Charles Sturt University.

\"Having a maths degree combined with the computing has always opened doors for me,\" she said.

\"It\'s a rare commodity these days and has given me excellent, analytical problem-solving skills.

\"I took for granted the benefits of CQU\'s smaller class sizes and lecturers that took a personal interest in you until I heard people\'s experiences of places like UQ.

\"I balanced the scientific side of my degree with the Graduate Diploma in Information Systems Management. The Graduate Diploma has given me the business skills I needed to survive in the IT world.

\"We had originally intended to be programmers, but when we graduated it was the height of the recession and computer software houses around the world were retrenching programmers by the thousands.

\"I got my first IT break doing desktop support at the CQU library and the career has grown from there\".

Anne said an IT Architect, or computer systems designer, is an IT leadership role that assists clients in taking a holistic approach to their systems and guides them into the latest technology that is right for them.

\"In many ways it is similar to a traditional Architect. A client provides you with ideas about what they would like to achieve from the new system or business problems they need solved. The IT Architect develops the design of the system and how it can be implemented around the client\'s budget, business processes, and existing IT infrastructure,\" she said.

\"It\'s a very satisfying job where I can be creative and pull together different aspects of my education and life experiences to produce a unique, personalised outcome for the client\".

Ashley completed his first year at CQU Mackay before coming to the Rockhampton Campus.

Since completing his Bachelor of Applied Science (Maths and Computing), he has gone on to complete a Graduate Diploma of Teaching (Secondary) and a Graduate Certificate of Education with CQU and a Master of Networking and System Administration through Charles Sturt University. He is continuing his education with a Master of Education Leadership through Australian Catholic University.

Ashley said his CQU qualifications helped him enter teaching at the 4-year trained (higher paid) level.

He is now Assistant Principal Curriculum at Marist College, Rosalie - a Brisbane Catholic Education all-boys school in the Marist Brothers tradition.