My experience at Leeds Beckett

I believe that all the combined experience I gained at university helped shape me both as a software developer and the person I am today. The structure of university and different styles of learning taught me how to properly apply what I had learnt which is a valuable quality. One of my biggest gains from university was engaging in learning and then applying it rather than just recounting something to pass an exam or answer a question. 

The support that I received whilst studying was great. The lecturers and course leaders always made themselves available and would quickly reply to any questions I had. The lecturers were experts in their fields of choice and when taking classes I felt I was learning from people who were knowledgeable, and not just directly reading from a presentation. Relevant feedback was given in class and on assignments. This helped me develop my soft and technical skills which are useful to this day.

The people I met on my course have become lifelong friends and I still speak to them regularly. Sharing collective knowledge and undertaking team projects, helped prepare me for a career in software. I can share knowledge with colleagues or ask for help when needed.

The course structure for Computer Science was hugely beneficial to me due to the broad range of topics covered (e.g. Networking, Operating Systems, Software Development, Project Management). The various classes and projects allowed me to gain a broad range of technical understanding in several fields. These technical skills are there to help you decide what branch of computer science you would like to specialise in after graduating. For me, I was interested in coding, so I decided to specialise in Software Development. However, I had friends that went on to work in Networking, IT Support, and Project Management. The course would benefit all of these roles.

When I first thought about university, one of my initial fears was doing a dissertation. Everybody talks about how many words they had to do and how late they left it to start. However, looking back, I enjoyed working on my dissertation. I felt it was a testament to my previous work. I applied various technical and soft skills that I had developed over the years. My dissertation was titled, Building a Smart Accident Response System with a consideration for medical services (Project map). It focused on a Raspberry Pi, which is a small computer, that would be strapped to a Lego car in order to detect a vehicle collision. The freedom in choosing the dissertation topic made me feel at ease. I was assigned a great advisor to meet with and discuss the dissertation. 

Here is my LinkedIn page and GitHub Profile to follow what I am up to.