Turn On Your Future @ UWTSD's School of Applied Computing & Electronics

Posts tagged ‘Graduate’

Graduate Profile: John Rees @ ARM

 

Q. What is your Name? John Rees

 

Q. What University course/s did you study? B.Eng Computer Systems Engineering (Electronics)
“A stepping stone to engineering.”
Q. What is your job title and role? Technical Director at ARM. Leader of the ARM Mali GPU SW Architecture Team. I lead a team of architects who work to define the SW architecture of the GPU driver for supporting OpenGLES, Vulkan and OpenCL khronos APIs for mobile, digital television and emerging markets demanding the needs of a GPU.

 

Q. Could you briefly describe the organisation you work for? ARM develops and licenses a wide range of software and silicon IP for inclusion in SoC designs that are deployed in very wide number of market segments and domains,  Arm is unique in that it does not produce SoC devices itself.

 

Q. Which skills learned at University are helpful to you in your job? Embedded Systems, Digital Systems, Digital Signal Processing, Object Orientated Programming, Control Systems, Electronics

 

Q. Do you have a typical day and how would you describe it? There is no typical day!  Working on GPU’s is a challenging environment and we face new challenges almost daily stemming from new trends in the market place, new technologies in silicon, competitors and the continuous customer quest for differentiation and pushing the boundaries of technology. Beyond that the typical day is spent analysing incoming product requirements and finding solutions within the many constraints, requesting or reviewing GPU HW features, obtaining wider ecosystem support, documenting the SW designs, engaging with customers and as a leader ensuring that people collaborate well together.

 

Q. What aspects of your job do you enjoy most? I really enjoy my job when we can find a solution to a given problem, there is a real buzz when you find it, I have found over time that it does not matter if it is hunting a bug in a system or code module, finding a solution to a architectural problem or fixing some working practice or process within an organisation where it will improve engineering.  Working with many bright people and understanding how different people solve problems, it can be challenging to come to some alignment but satisfying when you do. Another aspect is seeing products in the market that I can attribute to my work and show people.

 

Q. Do you have any advice for students who would like to start a Career? I would advocate using your spare time for hobby projects, its a cliche but there really is much to be gained from practical application.  You can learn a lot of essential and transferable skills that you will draw upon throughout your University program and your career. Further, it can help to narrow your interests that you really engage with and enjoy. Having some of the skills on board before you join an organisation can really help you in your early roles.

 

Q. A Quote that sums up your time at the University? A stepping stone to engineering.

 

For more information about Applied Computing courses at UWTSD please click-here.

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Graduate Profile: Matthew Meader @ NWIS

Q. What is your Name? Matthew Rhys Meader.

Q. What University course/s did you study? BSc (Hons) Computing & Information Systems (1st Class)

Q. What is your job title and role? As a Senior Software Developer, it is my role to engage in all phases of the software development lifecycle that include the analysis, design, development and support of nationally used clinical systems used within NHS Wales. It is also my role to mentor new staff with less clinical and technical knowledge and expertise.

Q. Could you briefly describe the organisation you work for? I work for the NHS Wales Informatics Service (NWIS); we supply over seventy software services to users across NHS Wales and to other parts of the United Kingdom. We support doctors, nurses and other clinical professionals, helping them provide specialist care to patients in hospitals, GP practices and across the community.
My team in particular are responsible for updating, maintaining and creating new modules for the Welsh Patient Administration System (WPAS). This system records details of patient’s hospital visits, including waiting list management, medical records, inpatient treatment, outpatient appointments and emergency visits.

Q. Which skills learned at University are helpful to you in your job? The most prevalent skill I gained whilst at University was the ability to write clean code and learn new languages as and when required. Other skills I learned that were helpful include:
• Project Management.
• Software Development Methodologies (Agile etc…)
• Usability Engineering & UX Design.
• Web Design.
• JavaScript, JQuery, JSON, Web Services (REST/SOAP), CSS/LESS.
• SQL.

Q. Do you have a typical day and how would you describe it? My typical day usually starts at 0800 with me planning the day ahead by checking emails and the Team Foundation Server (TFS) to ensure that all work tasks are on schedule and prioritised correctly. We hold daily SCRUM meetings to divide workloads amongst the team and to effectively help those struggling on certain tasks. Throughout the day, the team (Including myself) work on agreed tasks, but sometimes we have to fix bugs identified by users. This usually comes through from the helpdesk, though we do have to call users to gain an insight into the bug before creating a fix. Once a fix is completed and checked into Source Control, tests are conducted against the Systems Requirements Specification (SRS) document as well as a pre-defined Test Plan that the developer creates at the start of each task. The job at times can be unpredictable and requires focus and efficiency.

Q. What aspects of your job do you enjoy most? I enjoy problem solving, especially when it takes a long time to solve and it gives me great joy when a piece of work that I have developed is released LIVE with the knowledge that it is being used in hospitals across Wales.

Q. Do you have any advice for students who would like to start a Career? If you wish to start a career straight from University, then I suggest looking for jobs half way through your third year, this will give you scope as to what is out there. Also, look out for Graduate schemes in workplaces, these will give you the experience you need and can help you progress in that organisation. Also to Quote Vincent, van Gogh:

“Great things are not done by impulse, but by a series of small things brought together.”

Think about this as you start each assignment and think what grade you wish to achieve at the end goal ‘Graduation’. Also, remember to ask questions.

Q. A Quote that sums up your time at the University?

“Teachers/Lecturers open doors, but you must walk through them yourself. “

I loved my time at university; it gave me perspective into my capabilities and motivated me more than I ever was in school. The lecturers were extremely helpful and I urge students to talk to them whenever they can.

For more information about Computing courses and opportunities at UWTSD please click here.

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Exciting visit to TechHub with Alacrity

UWTSD Computing students visited TechHub Swansea today to learn about exciting Graduate ‘Tech Start-Up’ Opportunities at Alacrity and TechHub Swansea.

Many thanks to Sarah Fogel & Jennifer Clay from TechHub and Guy Wendon & Emily Rees from Alacrity for speaking with our students.

The build up to TechStars Innovation Comp 2019 has begun👍😃.

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Guy Wendon – Business Development Manager – Alacrity

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Emily Rees – Graduate Entrepreneur – Alacrity

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Graduate Profile: Nathan Dickinson

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Q. What is your Name? Nathan Dickinson 

Q. What was your University course? B.Sc. (Hons) Computing & Information Systems

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Q. What is your job title and role? My current job title is Product technical lead for the vDoc product of the Vizolution product suite.

Q. What does the role involve? This role involves me being the de-facto technical expert in all aspects of the vDoc product production with the overall goal being to align multiple development teams to delivery and fulfil customer requirements. Daily duties include attending stand-ups, providing estimates for new functionality, ensuring coding standards and providing technical leadership to development teams and steer and provide technical design and architecture for requirements. Also heavily involved in product support and deployments to ensure smooth roll-out and running of the product on a daily basis.

vDoc is an unassisted document sharing solution that allows customers to seamlessly progress their own customer journey through the upload, download or electronic signature of documents via a secure customer portal.
http://www.vizolution.co.uk/solutions/vdoc/

Q. Could you briefly describe the organisation you work for? Vizolution is a CX Tech company focused on streamlining difficult customer journeys. The Vizolution suite of digital products streamlines the end-to-end customer journey and supports the omni-channel strategy of our customers across branch, telephony and digital channels. It’s SaaS products are quick and easy to implement. The solutions eliminate breaks in the customer journey to deliver improved compliance, customer service and satisfaction and conversions as well as reduced costs.

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 Q. Which skills learned at University are helpful to you in your job? Confidence and self-belief, the environment in the university was very open and students were encouraged to interact as much as possible, feedback was always constructive and lecturers often pushed to get the best from me. This really helped with my self-belief and confidence allowing me to step out of my comfort zone and push my self and my abilities. It is this I believe has allowed me to progress to where I am today.


Q. Do you have a typical day and how would you describe it? My days vary quite a lot but usually start with attending stand-ups for the development teams of which there are five that work on the vDoc product. I am then usually attending meetings to either provide high level estimation and technical implementation guidance/design for new functionality. Performing code reviews to ensure code is of a suitable standard and follows our defined coding standards. Assisting other developers with issues or problems and providing technical guidance. Occasionally I have the chance to develop some functionality myself but I am mostly in a hands off type of role now.

Q. What aspects of your job do you enjoy most? It would have the be the problem solving, quite often I am faced with complex issues to which I need to provide technical guidance for, whilst this can be challenging and frustrating at times. The sense of achievement when something you’ve planned turns out how you expected it to or sometimes even better it makes it all worth it. My position can be quite stressful but its taking these small wins and seeing the impact our technology is having is what keeps me motivated

Q. Do you have any advice for students who would like to start a Career? Prepare early, there are going to be hundreds of graduates across the UK in your sector all looking for jobs, be proactive and get your foot in the door first. Look for summer placement work, try and reach out to places where you would like to work to see if they have any openings or what opportunities they have for graduates. Most important be persistent and be strong minded, there will be times where you will be turned down at interview, instead of taking that negatively look for the positives and look for areas to improve and come back stronger. You’ve done the hard work in getting into university and taking your degree so you deserve a good career so just remember that.

You’ve done the hard work in getting into university and taking your degree so you deserve a good career so just remember that.

Q. A Quote that sums up your time at the University? One of the most challenging but at the same time rewarding experiences of my life.

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Graduate Profile: Ross Thomas

Q. What is your Name? Ross Thomas

Q. What was your University course? BSc (Hons) Business Information Technology

Q. What is your job title and role? I am a junior developer and my role is configuring the companies scripts to match all different client needs.

Q. Could you briefly describe the organisation you work for? The organisation I work for CloudIQ is a Tech Start-up company that was created around 2012, we want our clients to make the most of their e-commerce website by re-marketing old ones and marketing new ones.

Q. Which skills learned at University are helpful to you in your job? I feel the main ones would be business awareness – this was important on adapting to a different situations you may be faced with and being aware of how it’s impacting the business and environment you are in. Another skill that I feel is of high value to me is analytical thinking, this has helped me so much when being faced with a problem or when my code isn’t working, it is having to think of different ways and think out of the box to solve it.

Q. Do you have a typical day and how would you describe it? Every day is different, but will have a similar feel to it, mostly I am writing or editing code to meet the clients needs but I could also be investigating the code and working with the team to try and fix the issues we have.

Q. What aspects of your job do you enjoy most? I enjoy working with the people I work with, but more so I enjoy learning and overcoming the different situations where I may have struggled for a while. I get a real sense of achievement when something works after trying to figure it out for ages.

Q. Do you have any advice for students who would like to start a Career? Be patient and don’t be afraid of changes, if you are unhappy with your working life change it.

Q. A Quote that sums up your time at the University? Challenging but worth it – I’d do it all again!.

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Graduates deliver Inspirational Talks @ UWTSD SOAC Swansea

Many thanks to Business Technology Graduate Dan Hawkes (BT), Web Development Graduate Jordan Crocker (Senior Web Developer) and Computer Networks Graduate Simon Downes (PhD student) for visiting the University today to talk with our students about their University and Career journey to date, sharing valuable hints and tips for academic and career success. Inspirational invaluable and greatly appreciated. Thank you all.

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Graduate Profile: Thomas Matti @ ARCADIS

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Q. What is your Name? Thomas Matti

Q. What was your University course? Business & Information Technology.

Q. What is your job title and role? Risk Management Analyst.

Q. Could you briefly describe the organisation you work for? I work for a company called Arcadis which is the Leading Global Design & Consultancy firm for natural and built assets. Applying deep market sector insights and collective design, consultancy, engineering, project and management services. We have 28,000 people active in over 70 countries that generate more than €3 billion in revenues. We support UN-Habitat with knowledge and expertise to improve the quality of life in rapidly growing cities around the world.

Q. Which skills learned at University are helpful to you in your job? The first role at the company included working with database formulas which I learnt on the course. These skills helped me complete tasks with ease.

Q. Do you have a typical day and how would you describe it? My typical day would consist of coming into work at 7:30, look at my calendar to see what tasks I have for the day such as: Sitting with peers to discuss new potential risks, attending meetings and presenting findings to senior management.

Q. What aspects of your job do you enjoy most? Results, it’s nice to actually see some improvement in your work and receive recognition from it.

Q. Do you have any advice for students who would like to start a Career? I think personally having a degree is crucial for really kick-starting your career.

And as cheesy as it sounds the advice I would provide is never give up!

There were times on my course where I didn’t understand information, contemplated is this what I wanted to do? But as long as you have the mentality to never give up and be hopeful that something will come out of it then something will. Then you can apply that mentality not just to the course you’re doing but also to the career you’re seeking.

Q. A Quote that sums up your time at the University? Highs and lows, but worth the Graft.

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Graduate Profile: Jason Price (Systems Administrator)

What is your name? My name is Jason Price.

What was your University course?
I completed two University Degrees at Swansea’s School of Applied Computing. Both my Undergraduate degree and Postgraduate Masters were in the area of Computer Networks.

What is your job title and role?
My Current role is a Systems Administrator.

Could you briefly describe the organisation you work for? 

I work for a company called Medical Connections Ltd; the company name may suggest a medical company however it is actually a software company. The company specialises in a software toolkit (API) which allow software developers with limited knowledge of DICOM (Digital Imaging and Communication in Medicine) to cover the medical area of all types of scans ranging from ultrasound to MRI. DICOM is the standard way an image or video is created, transferred, shared, and even stored in a clinical environment. Because the standard is so vast, it makes sense for a ‘new’ DICOM developer to use a toolkit which would do all the standardisation for them, so they can concentrate on making a successful application.

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

The University gave me the independence to break down tasks, and to troubleshoot in a manner which was thorough and precise. The University also gave me the knowledge to find and research in a critical way while also only looking for ‘relevant’ information and how to identify them quickly and efficiently so not to spend too much time on a ‘dead end’.

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

I’ll usually start my day by looking through email filtering to ensure customer emails have not been falsely stopped. I will then look at the Virtual Hosts to ensure clean operation and if any errors have been found then to action them appropriately. After checking all internal systems, I will then inspect / improve / action external services such as the website, license services, and cloud services. I will then check my “to do” tasks and complete as necessary, which can range from improving developer’s machines (upgrading hardware) to changing infrastructure and servers.

What aspects of your job do you enjoy most?

Troubleshooting: I like finding a difficult or unusual problem and trying to find a solution or even sometimes a workaround. Sometimes the problems can test your researching skills, intuitions and/or even your patience, but always satisfying to find a solution that just works.

Do you have any advice for students who would like to start a Career?

Make sure that you enjoy your chosen field of study, that’s it’s not something that you only excel at, but you actually enjoy doing. For me technology has always excited and inspired me, and I’ve always loved troubleshooting and tinkering. Using things in a manner where they were not originally designed.

I would also recommend that whatever your chosen field is don’t stop at its completion, if you can  complete your professional qualifications even at the lowest level as soon as possible this will give you an edge in the job market, but also give you a boost in confidence.

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Graduate Profile: Adam Davies

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Q. What is your Name? Adam Davies
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Q. What was your University course? BSc Computer Networks
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Q. What is your job title and role? Infrastructure Engineer. This involves managing a virtual infrastructure built on VMWare vSphere along with managing the SAN, backups, operating systems and servers
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Q. Could you briefly describe the organisation you work for? CGI, a Canadian company which operates out of 40 countries with 68,000 employees.
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Q. Which skills learned at University are helpful to you in your job? The most useful skills I learnt at University were from the module based on network design. It got me to think of the bigger picture and how each component affects the other. This has been useful when implementing new services into the existing virtual infrastructure that I manage.
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Q. Do you have a typical day and how would you describe it? The best thing about my job is that there isn’t a typical day; I could be swapping out a failed hard drive or troubleshooting a virtual machine one day or adding new components to the infrastructure the next day.
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Q. What aspects of your job do you enjoy most? The thing I enjoy most about my job is when something goes wrong. This is where your skills are really put to the test and you always end up learning something new.
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Q. Do you have any advice for students who would like to start a Career? The best advice I could give current students is to stay up to date with the IT industry. It’s ever evolving so in order to make an impact you really need to know what’s going on in the industry. Get in to the habit of reading articles as this will help you identify what’s up and coming and what your employer can use to improve its offerings to its customers.

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Graduate Profile: Luke Byers

During the Working Week

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At the Weekend 🙂

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Q. What is your Name? Luke Byers

Q. What was your University course? BSc (Hons) Business Information Technology

Q. What is your job title and role? Technology Risk Analyst

Q. Could you briefly describe the organisation you work for? Australia and New Zealand Bank (ANZ)

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

Business environments (internal and external), Business Continuity Management (BCM), Written and presenting skills.

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

Analysis and reporting of data, testing of controls in place to mitigate risks and providing assurance to risk managers. Providing advice to ensure people comply with policies.

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

Operational risk is an interesting space with so many factors, In particular I enjoy working within the Technology department and understanding how a large financial organisation deals with the changing landscape of technology trends and cyber threats.

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

If you see an opportunity that interests you don’t be afraid to go for it. Prepare for interviews well, be confident in yourself and you will get a chance!

Q. A Quote that sums up your time at the University?

I learned a lot while having fun and making friends along the way, what more could you ask for!

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