Q. What was your HE course and when did you graduate?
I started studying BSc (Hons) Web Development in September 2011 for 3 years at UWTSD and graduated July 2014!
Q. Could you briefly describe the organisation you work for?
I currently work at a joint private business venture run by my boss. One of which is NetDeco an online E-commerce home furnishings business which specialises in unique pieces not found in regular shops. The other business is Bonapeti which is also an E-commerce business however this one specialises in catering, and is going to be specifically targeting the more busy individuals in the London area. The ethos of Bonapeti is to embrace a more wholesome plant based diet, and we can provide this to customers via home food delivery service. A similar idea to Gousto (recently advertised on TV) or diet chef except more affordable and more emphasis on people with special dietary needs/intolerances.
Q. What is your job title and role?
My role in these businesses is currently Junior Web Developer, mainly front end Web Development i.e. HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript, JQuery and Bootstrap. However I also do some backend Web Development such as MySQL, PHP and Liquid.
Q. What modules are most helpful to you in your job?
I’d say that all the modules which I’ve studied in the last 3 years have been useful in some way. However if I were to pick the Multimedia Web Development course run by Kemi Ademoye is definitely up to date in terms of front-end Web Development, she teaches you the core of HTML5 and CSS3 with Responsive which are a must if you want to go on and become a front-end Web Developer. Additionally the PHP course taught by Gaynor Thomas helped me to gain an understanding on how PHP works and also setting up the databases in MySQL. Finally I’d have to say that Advanced Web Development taught by Michael Dacey was excellent, although hard at times, taught us more of the back end stuff such as JavaScript and also PHP frameworks which utilised the MVC model.
Q. Where do you use your specialist skills and abilities?
My job requires me to create the web pages, which will then be seen by the users. Therefore I have to use HTML5 and CSS3, in addition to this since the emergence of many different media devices and sizes most websites are made responsive so I’m currently using Bootstrap to handle the sizes on different devices. Also to make the websites more responsive JQuery and Javascript has been used for sliders and also popups for competitions etc. However for all the front end to work I’ve had to set up the backend system myself using MySQL and Sequel Pro for the databasing side of things!
Q. Do you find yourself using the transferable skills that you developed in University?
Oh yes definitely, all the time in fact! The first year of university taught us the basics of coding and good practices. One example of this includes the use of if, else and ifelse statements, I’m always using them in my code! Also Research methods definitely helped with writing up reports which relates to documentation which I produce to helps my boss makes decisions on certain aspects of the website.
Q. What aspects of your job do you enjoy most?
Despite it being stressful around deadlines, the most enjoyable part of my job is the ability to look at a live web page and be proud that you have produced it/been a part of the whole process. In addition to this the praise from doing my job right is always good! I have high hopes for the future.
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