Jamie turned his love of practical learning into a successful placement year, which opened up great career opportunities.
During the Open Day, it was clear the academic staff I met had a passion for their research. They spoke proudly of their modules, and the opportunities for practical tasks and experimentation. This was an excellent indicator of the level of teaching and gave me confidence in the University.
At Portsmouth, modules are taught by academics with a specialist interest in the subject. They are keen to point students to resources and the newest innovations and research. This allows you to push yourself outside the bounds of taught content.
The course starts from fundamentals of Computer Science and builds up to challenging research. Having studied a BTEC, I was unsure how my experience would compare to those who studied A levels. In fact, my practical understanding became beneficial in coursework, my dissertation, and group projects where I felt that I thrived.
Becoming a better communicator
Though group work and large projects can be daunting, they allowed me the opportunity to be a leader, contribute ideas, and communicate issues in a professional manner, and provided a safe environment to develop these skills.
What’s especially unique about the University is their recognition of different styles of learning. If you don’t understand a topic, staff provide a different way of viewing it, which ensures an even playing field for assessments and thriving in coursework.
By working with other students, staff, clients, and on placement I substantially improved my capacity to communicate.
A placement that unlocks opportunities
The University has done a very good job of integrating practical programming, independent projects, and time for personal development into the curriculum, alongside offering a placement programme. This allowed me to finish my degree with real-world understanding of techniques, and industrial experience that greatly increased my employability.
Between my second and final year, I completed an industrial placement as a software developer at IT consultancy CGI. Not only did this push forward my technical ability, but it helped to broaden my professional network, expand my professional skills, and allowed me to work independently and collaboratively on software projects from the ground up.
In my final year of study, I carried over the improved work ethic and motivation I gained during my placement. This contributed to the success of my final year project. I also got an offer to return to the company on the conclusion of my studies.
The opportunities offered at the University have been invaluable to my current position, and set me up well for my future career.
A dissertation that makes a difference
During my final year I was fortunate to be provided the opportunity, through CGI, to work with a community special school in Cheltenham on my dissertation. I planned, communicated and delivered an end-to-end bespoke software application to enhance symbol-based teaching for their teaching staff and communication-limited students.
This experience was incredibly rewarding and allowed me to utilise the technical, planning, and interpersonal skills developed throughout my studies. It was the proudest moment of my University experience as the application will have a substantial and tangible impact.
The University helped steer the work to produce a dissertation which aligned with the expectations of a commercial software development project, including documentation, testing, planning and presentation. It was a fantastic opportunity to demonstrate the depth of my learning.
Looking forward with confidence
In my role at CGI, I will utilise the problem-solving and software development skills taught throughout my degree. I will be responsible for the development of software artefacts as a member of a development team. I also aim to continue the application I developed for the special school, and work with them to deploy it. The opportunities offered at the University have been invaluable to my current position, and set me up well for my future career.