UWTSD Applied Computing Blog

Graduate Profile: Nathan Munkley (BSc Computer Networks)

Nathan Munkley has been telling us what he’s been doing since Graduation. Nice to hear from you, Nathan.

Q. What is your Name?

Nathan Munkley

Q. What was your University course?

BSc Computer Networks

Q. What is your job title and role?

FRT Engineer

Q. Could you briefly describe the organisation you work for?

Rock IT is an expanding Managed Service Provider based in South Wales, Rated top 10 IT Support Organisations in the UK.

Q. Which skills learned at University are helpful to you in your job?

Everything learnt at university has been extremely useful in provided the knowledge I need to do my job on a daily basis. The Networking modules have been the most useful and the ability to complete CCNA by the end of it is very good to have on CV.

Q. Do you have a typical day and how would you describe it?

Each day is different and brings new challenges. At FRT Level each engineer gets 40 minutes to work on a ticket, this could be anything from a simple account change to a full scale infrastructure down. RockIT trust engineers with any issue that comes in. Being able to use all range of skills across various issues is what makes the job interesting.

Q. What aspects of your job do you enjoy most?

I enjoy the huge variety of challenges I face on a daily basis which enables me to continuously develop my skills.

Q. Do you have any advice for students who would like to start a career?

Continue to study and learn, IT is changing at a rapid pace and to be able to keep up with the industry don’t be afraid to learn even more. University is just the start of great things.

Staff supporting Christmas Jumper Day

The SOAC staff have been supporting Save the Children’s Christmas Jumper Day today. Here are a few of them looking festive:

Aiden Herbert (Graduate of BSc Software Engineering)

We were happy to see Aiden Herbert, graduate of BSc Software Engineering (and MSc Applied Computing 2015), again yesterday. Aiden came back to talk to our current students about life after University. Aiden is now working as a software engineering in Cheltenham.

Here he is with staff members Gaynor and Sue.

Teaching with Twitter and Non-destructive testing of New Materials (Seminar)

Our Faculty Research Seminar for December was held today.

Luca Pagano (Senior Research Engineer) spoke on “Non Destructive Testing” and ways to detect damage in composite materials, using applications such as aircraft wings, without the need to disassemble them.

Mr. Andrew Smith (Senior Lecturer, Open University) gave a talk on “Teaching with Twitter” – including teaching via many other social media outlets. Many colleagues from other Faculties (eg Education) also joined us today to hear his talk. Check him out on @OUCisco or @teraknor on Twitter.

Many thanks to both our speakers, very different subjects, but both very interesting talks.We will be posting the slides from these talks on Moodle soon in case you missed them!

Green Walk, December 2016

As part of our Green Impact, we held another of our occasional lunchtime walks today. It was a lovely day and unseasonably warm (well, for December!) Taking part were staff members Sue Maw, Carlene Campbell and Gaynor Thomas, and Software Engineering Year 1 student Rory and Jonathan.

We walked up the hill from campus to the Mayhill Wildlife Corridor which has fantastic view over Swansea Bay, and less than a 10 minute walk from campus.

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Graduate Profile: Rob Lewis (BSc Computer Networks)

Q. What is your Name? Robert Lewis

Q. What was your University course? BSc. Computer Networks

Q. What is your job title and role? Network Engineer

Q. Could you briefly describe the organisation you work for? SA1 Solutions – Providing server and network support for customers.

Q. Which skills learned at University are helpful to you in your job? Cisco qualifications which have proved incredibly useful in my line of work. A very good understanding of Network infrastructure and network security. Confidence in speaking to a group of people and clearly explaining your thoughts and views on something.

Q. Do you have a typical day and how would you describe it? One of the best things for working for my current employer is that there is no ‘Typical day at work’. Each day presents me with a new challenge whether it be a networking issue, a server issue or a telecommunications issue. In my capacity as Network Engineer, it is my duty to identify and resolve any issues within a timely manner. Other days consist of project work whether it be building phone systems in CentOS through the use of FreePBX or working on current network management systems.

Q. What aspects of your job do you enjoy most? Ability to work hands on with the latest equipment and the feeling of working as a part of a team.

Q. Do you have any advice for students who would like to start a Career? No one will go into a career knowing absolutely everything and that’s not a bad thing. The whole process is a learning curve and you will never stop learning, especially in the technology field as it progresses so quickly. You must always be confident in your own abilities. Finally, if you ever get an opportunity to do something that interests you, take it with both hands.

MEng Trip

Our MEng Applied Environmental Engineering students went on a trip yesterday. As part of their course, they study water treatment procedures and techniques. Today they toured the facilities at Gowerton Sewage Treatment Works, and also the Felindre Water Treatment Works, to see how industry handles water treatment. Here are a few photos of the day. 🙂 Many thanks to the staff at Gowerton and Felindre for showing us around their facilities.

Green Impact

This year SOAC is taking part in the Green Impact Initiative and we hope to achieve a Bronze Award this year.

Staff and students may have noticed some green-related information and recycling point around SOAC

Part of the Green Impact award is well-being, and today at lunch-time we had our inaugural nature walk to the Hillside Wildlife Corridor near campus

Here are some photos! Watch out for more nature walks coming soon 🙂

Final Year Student Exhibition 2015 at Techhub Wales

Well done to all our students who participated in our Final Year Student Exhibition 2015 at Techhub last night. Also thank you to Techhub for hosting us! It was a great evening with a real buzz in the place – many of the employers who attended (DVLA, Veeqo etc) have sent great feedback after the event to say how impressed they were with our students and their project work.

Some photos of our students appear below and there are lots more on our Facebook page:

Partial Solar Eclipse 2015

We very much enjoyed the partial Solar Eclipse here at the School of Applied Computing.

Sue our secretary set up a pinhole viewer in the School office, John Young projected his telescope on to the floor of the Electronics lab, Kevin Palmer used a mailing tube for projection and some of the staff went to join Swansea Astronomical Society at the Waterfront Museum. Hope you enjoyed the eclipse wherever you saw it from!

Kevin’s mailing tube projector

Sue’s pinhole projector

Sue’s pinhole projector

Gaynor’s photo through a solar telescope