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

Posts tagged ‘School of Applied Computing’

Graduate Profile: Thomas John

Thomas-John

What was your HE course/s and when did you graduate?
I studied the HND Computing and Information Systems course, and after graduating from the course, I enrolled on to the 3rd year of the BSc (Hons) Computing and Information Systems course before graduating with a 2:1 Degree.

What is your job title and role?
I am a Software Tester for a company called Dezrez Services Ltd which is based in Swansea.

Could you briefly describe the organization you work for?
Dezrez Services Ltd provides Software Services for Estate Agencies to help the Estate Agencies deal with Sales, Lettings, and also Property Management. The company also offers Support for the Software.  A few products that Dezrez have include:

  • Dezrez PM (Property Management)
  • iPad Valuation App
  • Website in a Box
  • Template Designs
  • Mobile Dezrez

Which skills learned at University are helpful to you in your job?
After graduating from University, some skills have really helped me in my role. With the Assignments and the Final Year Project deadlines, I have learnt how to meet deadlines of Testing Tasks, Testing Activities and Sprints. This has really helped me deal with Testing Tasks and Testing Activities that are set for me. Also my Final Year Project has helped me as I understand the need for Usability within a Software program and how important it is for the Software and for the User.

Do you have a typical day and how would you describe it?
My day would normally involve testing the Property Management software package that Dezrez have developed. I would use TFS (Team Foundation Server) to look at a Task Board to see what Testing Tasks I have been assigned to Test and then I would record any Issues (Functionality, Usability, Compatibility, Design, Spelling/Grammar) or Feature Suggestions in TFS and the Dezrez CRM System.  When a release is performed for new functionality and fixes to go up live, I would perform a Test Plan to make sure that functionality already in place has not been affected by the new functionality.

What aspects of your job do you enjoy most?
I enjoy the challenge of helping the company find issues within the software, helping the company release the software, and that it is suitable and ready for release. I also enjoy working for the company and learning new techniques for testing the products that the company provides.

Do you have any advice for students who are currently studying their HE course?
I would say when an assignment is handed out, start on it as soon as possible. Use the resources that the University provides (library etc.) and the time in which there are no Lectures or Tutorials wisely to do research for assignments, and also take the opportunity to learn some exam preparation techniques. Also if doing a Final Year Project, I would start the Project as soon as you can as I completed my Literature Review at the start of January and that gave me time to make amendments to the sections and also start the Implementation stage early which was really helpful.

In a summary please write a little statement that explains the positive aspects of your experience at University and whether you would recommend it to anyone in the future:
When starting at University, I was a little nervous with the change from College. But the University, the Support, Friends and also the Lecturers made me feel comfortable after a few weeks, I settled in great and worked hard to gain my HND. After gaining the HND, I realised that I wanted to do further education and decided to enrol on the 3rd year of the BSc Degree and it was the best decision I have made. I have made some great friends through my 3 years at the University, and I have also developed myself further as a person through the experience. I recommend the University highly as it a great place to study and I have learnt so much there.

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Research Profile: Virtual Reality e-Counselling Service in Wales

Researchers at the Centre for Psychology & Counselling and School of Applied Computing at Swansea Metropolitan (University of Wales: Trinity Saint David) have received funding from Tenovus, Wales’ leading cancer charity, through its innovation grant funding scheme to develop and evaluate an on-line counselling service for young people in Wales who either have a personal diagnosis of cancer or who are caring for someone with cancer.

CEvolve_team_SMU_8302

Lead applicant, Dr Ceri Phelps, a Health Psychologist at Swansea Met, stated that:

“young people across the South West Wales area will be involved in all stages of this exciting project including its initial design. The e-counselling service will take the form of an avatar-based virtual reality counselling world in a format familiar to many young people today who use computer games machines such as Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and Sony’s Playstation 3. If shown to be successful, the virtual reality counselling world may be adopted by Tenovus for ongoing delivery of cancer support services to young people throughout Wales with huge scope for offering a wider alternative to face-to-face counselling for all age groups”.

Technical Lead, Andrew Baker from the School of Applied Computing, having extensive experience working in Real-Time Computer Games Development is overseeing all technical and creative aspects of the project. Andrew said, “This is a very exciting project to be involved in which incorporates Applied Research across a broad spectrum of disciplines.” Young people feel comfortable with the whole concept of avatars.

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The Project Team recently presented the ‘Health Psycology in Action‘ poster at the Tenovus Research Conference in Cardiff (SWALEC Stadium) and received very positive feedback. Furthermore, the Project has also recently been commended by the NHS Ethics committee. This is Fantastic news as the Project now progresses to phase 2. Congratulations to all involved in this highly innovative contemporary and benevolent initiative.

Dr Ian Lewis, Head of Research for Tenovus said,

“Our Tenovus Innovation Grants offer new research opportunities to discover ways to reduce the impact of cancer.  With cancer incidence in Wales amongst the highest in the world, we need to develop new and innovative ways to help support people not just throughout the duration of their cancer treatment, but beyond.”

tenovus

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Guest Speaker: Andrew Thomas of Brightseed Ltd.

AndrewAndrew Thomas pictured above, a Graduate of the School of Applied Computing, now a Successful Entrepreneur and Technical Director of Brightseed Ltd. located on the Mount Pleasant Swansea Campus, recently spoke with undergraduates at the School about Entrepreneurship and openly shared what it is like to create and run your own Company. Sharing many hints and tips along the way Andrew’s talk was very inspiring and part of the University’s Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) programme of events.

Building on a strong technical experience gained within a large corporate environment, Brightseed was born out of the passion of providing a quality service to customers with a strong emphasis on a quality product and support.  The partnership with a strong Creative talent (Simon Lee, Creative Director) has propelled Brightseed into a strong position.

The University’s Global Entrepreneurship Week co-insides with News that the University of Wales Trinity Saint David’s place as a world-leading authority on enterprise and entrepreneurship education has been further enhanced as a senior United Nations (UN) official is set to spend the next four months at the University to learn about its work and to develop new educational approaches that improve international educational provision and inform new policy developments.

For more information please click-here.

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