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Posts tagged ‘Swansea’
Graduate Profile: Wayne Hawkins
Q. What was your HE course?
I completed the BSc (Hons) Computer Games Development.
Q. What is your job title and role?
Currently I am a Software Developer at Quicklink. I work on updating software, and new projects. A lot of it has been for Mac and iPhone.
Q. Could you briefly describe the organization you work for?
Quicklink deals with providing broadcast solutions for people out in the field, such as reporters and television companies who require live streaming from remote locations.
Q. Which skills learned at University are helpful to you in your job?
A few of the key skills include:
– Adapting to different programming languages
– multi-threading
– software development
– networking.
Q. What aspects of your job do you enjoy most?
I haven’t found a task I like the most within the company, at least not as much as my previous position as a project assistant at the University. If I had to choose something I would say working on our software on the iphone.
Q. Do you have any advice for students who would like to start a Career?
The only advice I would give is work hard in all your subject areas. My overall grade was not brilliant because I didnt focus on subjects I was weaker in. Apply for everything! Even if you think there is no way you could get the job based on your final grades. It seems like people want programmers badly!
Taster: Computer Network Security for Gower College students
Gower college students from Gorseinon campus visited School of Applied Computing on 1st Dec 2014 for a tailor made taster session on Computer Networks.
Dr Stephen Hole, Head of School (second from the right) welcomed the students and staff on their arrival. The taster session was organised by Dr Kapilan Radhakrishnan (far left) and Dr Carlene Campbell far right) and was designed to give the students an idea of what is involved in the HN/BSc Computer Networks Programme. Kapilan started the session and the students were given details of the advantages of studying computer networking, job prospects in the field, and additional professional qualifications that they can achieve to enhance their Career prospects whilst studying within the School without any extra cost. Later, Carlene took over and gave the students hands-on experience setting-up security on a network and white-hat hacking. The students really enjoyed the session and gave a lot of positive feedback.
Swansea Start-up Weekend
What an Amazing Weekend ;-). Well done and Congratulations to all Applied Computing Students and Graduates who participated in Swansea Start-up Weekend (#SWS) – You were ‘Amazing‘.
All participants of this fantastic Weekend are Winners. A Special mention to:
- BIT Graduate ‘Elliot Thomas’ (CEO of ‘Fuzmo‘.com) and his Team who *WON* the Swansea Start-up Weekend 2014, 2nd place Team Winners included Reham Al-Shaibani (2nd Yr BIT student) and Jordan Sparkes (2nd Yr Computer Games student) and 3rd place Team Winner Samuel Riley (Final Year BIT student).
- BIT Year 2 Students Elisha Arnold, Alexander Page and Lauren Collins narrowly missed out on 3rd place along with Richard Gleed’s Team including Abdulaziz Almegren and Yr2 Web Development student Kelvin Beukes.
- Software Engineering Graduate Edd Turtle and Web Development Graduate Ben Gillot also narrowly missed the top 3 price winning spots. All created Amazingly innovative new tech business opportunities and performed brilliantly all weekend.
* WELL DONE EVERYONE *
Thank you very much to the Organisation Team for providing such a fantastic Opportunity for our students and Graduates including James Pack, Kathryn Penaluna, Adam Curtin, Rod Thomas, Sue Poole, Matt Warren, Helen Hall, Colin Lucas, Andy Penaluna, Will Fleming and James Williams.
Graduate: Simon Bennett – BSc (Hons) Web Development
After Graduating earlier this year Simon Bennett tells us about his time at University of Wales Trinity Saint David studying for a BSc (Hons) in Web Development:
For course information please click here: http://www.uwtsd.ac.uk/computing/
Up-coming Events
We have some exciting events coming-up that you might be interested in. The events are fantastic opportunities to meet new people, learn new sills, increase your network and very often lead to great employment opportunities.
- Swansea’s Tech Start-up Weekend will start on Friday 21st November at 6pm through to Sunday at 8pm. If you are looking to start a business or gain some business start-up experience this event is for you. Great Prizes available and Great experience to enhance your CV. + You will be provided with free breakfast lunch dinner drinks and snacks all weekend to keep you going + FREE PIZZA ;-). The event is taking place at the Dylan Thomas Centre in Swansea (located behind Sainsbury’s), we are meeting at 6pm on the 21st Nov. Tickets normally cost £35, however if you are a student of the School of Applied Computing UWTSD you go for free. To reserve a place simply e-mail james.williams@sm.uwtsd.ac.uk. For more information please visit the Global Start-up Weekend website which includes information for first-timers.
- Code Clubs are running up until Christmas. Code Club is an opportunity for all people regardless of coding experience to get together and learn about different aspects of coding. Each club begins with a guest speaker sharing their experience of being a developer, followed by an introduction to a topic and a few challenges on Coderbyte. The club is BYOD (bring your own device) so please bring along your laptop or Mac book and we’ll supply the pizza! We meet one Thursday per month, between 18:00-19:30, in the TechHub Swansea. For more information please click here.
- Software Development Round Table, A monthly software development meet-up to discuss technology, practices or whatever else takes our fancy. The meet is on the last Monday of every month. Next meeting is on Monday, November 24, 2014, 7 to 9:00 pm. If you’re using some new technology you think others would be interested in, if you’ve got a design or some code you’d like to discuss, if you’d like to discuss a specific practice, a problem you are having or you’d simply like to see what others have got to say – come along and join in. This is an informal session, you don’t need any particular experience and you don’t need to have suggestions – just bring yourself. For more information please click-here.
- Making Big Data work: Interested in working with Big Data? Need help getting Started? Check out this free event = in Cardiff Bay on the 25th November, 9:15 – 3:30pm, at the: Big Data Life Sciences Hub, Assembly Sq, Cardiff Bay. For more information please click here: http://www.hpcwales.co.uk/making-big-data-work. To register: tinyurl.com/bigdataworkshop.
Techhub Start-up Weekend 2014
Swansea’s Techhub Start-up Weekend will start on the 21st November. If you are looking to start a business or gain some business start-up experience with someone who has a great idea this weekend is for you. Entrepreneur, Software Developers, Designers and Marketers all attend the event to work together on a new business idea that they then present as a team to the judges on the Sunday night. Great Prizes available and Great experience to enhance your CV. + You will be provided with free breakfast lunch dinner drinks and snacks all weekend to keep you going + FREE PIZZA ;-).
The event is taking place at the Dylan Thomas Centre in Swansea (located behind Sainsbury’s), we are meeting at 6pm on the 21st Nov. Tickets normally cost £35, however if you are a student of the School of Applied Computing UWTSD you go for free. To reserve a place simply e-mail james.williams@sm.uwtsd.ac.uk.
To review last year’s event and entries please click-here.
IT Computing Vacancies: Web Dev and System Support
Many Companies contact the School of Applied Computing to request Computing Graduates, some recent examples include Waters Creative and HiTech Labs below:
Waters Creative Ltd are looking for a Junior Developer familiar with PHP, MySQL, HTML, CSS and Javascript technologies. For more information please click-here. For many more local Web Development jobs please click here: indeed WebDev jobs, Monster WebDev jobs in Wales. For information about the School’s Web Development degree please click-here.
Also Hitec Laboratories Ltd are currently looking for a 1st Level Support Analyst, to be based at Hitec’s head office in Swansea. Hitec solutions span Enterprise Content Management (ECM) and Governance, Risk & Compliance (GRC). The 1st Level Support Analyst is responsible for providing first line support for Hitec’s Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC) solution. The job specification is below, if you are interested please contact Janet Crame (Operations Director) via e-mail janet.crame@hiteclabs.com.
The work is conducted in a dynamic environment with support enquiries being made on a range of issues from product specific support to more general PC and network environment support. The role involves working closely with the Testing and Development teams in order to provide incident verification and progress more involved issues. There is also the requirement to work in collaboration with the Professional Services and Engineering teams within Hitec (Laboratories) Ltd. Initial product training will be given along with any other associated training that may be necessary from time to time. There is also a high reliance on self-training and knowledge gathering particularly for related background information.
Responsibilities include:
- Call Logging, Incident diagnosis, Incident verification, working with testing and development teams
- Incident prioritisation, Incident resolution, Managing incidents within customer SLAs
- Keeping customers updated with progress
- Schedule support with other team members
- Maintain knowledge base.
Technical Skills/Experience/Understanding Required:
- Familiarity with MS SQL Server support
- Windows Client Operating Systems
- Familiarity with Windows Server Operating Systems support
- Databases in general; MS SQL Server in particular
- Microsoft IIS set-up and configuration
- Windows security and user management.
Personal Skills:
- Excellent customer service skills
- Strong administration and call-logging, Incident ownership
- Able to take support calls and summarise the key issues.
- Ability to diagnose and prioritise issues
- Strong communication skills
- Enjoy learning about new products both from given training and self study.
- Have a technical education at HND level or equivalent.
- It would be an advantage to have experience in using a bug reporting and management system.
Hours of work: 9am – 5.30pm Monday – Friday, with 1 hour for lunch.
Holiday: 22 days per year increasing to 25 days after 3 years service, plus 8 UK Bank Holidays.
Probationary period: 3 months, followed by a formal review.
Other benefits:Company pension scheme and private medical cover available at end of probationary period. Life assurance & childcare vouchers also available.
For many more local Web Development jobs please click here: indeed IT System Support jobs, Monster IT System Support. For information about the School’s Computing Information Systems & Business Computing degrees please click the preceding links.
Swansea Tech Vacancy: Junior Web Developer
As a Junior Developer at Waters Creative Ltd you will be expected to deliver a consistently high standard of work. The role includes a medium level of technical input into creative and web based projects and demands an in-depth knowledge in PHP, MySQL, HTML, CSS and Javascript technologies. You will be required to deal directly with customers in a friendly, professional and efficient manner.
This is a highly important role in the company website development services where you will work closely with creative/website designers to ensure each project is delivered on time, is fit for purpose and meets our customer’s requirements. You will work closely with the Senior Developer and Project Manager, and take guidance from them on the day to day schedule of work.
Your contract will include a probationary period of 6 months with a review after the first month, we do this to make sure we have the best fit for the role – we find this works both ways. This initial review period is designed to give you opportunity to brush up on your PHP development skills, find your feet at Waters Creative and prove to us your commitment, we will provide on the job training and relevant reading resources to help you achieve this successfully.
Probationary-period Salary: £18-22k per annum (this will be reviewed after the 6 month probationary period)
Please submit your CV and covering letter to: info@waters-creative.co.uk.
Graduate Profile: Neil Page – Online Manager @ Cruise Nation
What was your HE course? I completed the BSc degree in Web Development at the School of Applied Computing.
What is your job title and role?
My current job title is Online Manager. This means that I’m responsible for my companies online presence. This encompasses a multitude of different activities, but I mainly oversee our e-mail marketing activities, design and maintenance of the company website as well as all online advertising. I’m also required to manage several third-parties to ensure we achieve all of our Organic Search and PR goals.
Could you briefly describe the organization you work for?
I work for Cruise Nation. We’re a Cruise Tour Operator, meaning we put together our own cruise holiday packages to sell across the UK. In the last 2 years we’ve grown from 8 employees to 25, and won numerous awards in the industry.
Which skills learned at University are helpful to you in your job?
I use HTML, CSS and javascript/jQuery on a daily basis! I picked up these in University. I also use Photoshop and Illustrator on a regular basis. I think the main thing I picked up in university was an understanding on a breadth of different subjects, and a deeper knowledge.
What aspects of your job do you enjoy most? I love the challenge of working with a smaller team, and seeing the results that my input can generate. I enjoy the level of responsibility that my role involves. I’ve always been pretty addicted to all things web-related, so to be able to work within this industry every day is very really satisfying.
Do you have any advice for students who would like to start a Career? Studying a higher education course at University will give you the perfect base to start a career of your choice. I’d always recommend that you do as much work as possible in your own time, so you fully understand the lectures and classes that are given to you. During the Summer Holidays, be on the lookout for any work experience you can get, this will really help in you get your foot in the door after you graduate, and you’ll find you’ll learn so much more when you’re working day-to-day.
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