Year in industry – ‘sandwich’ degree 

At Nottingham, we offer a Year in Industry as part of our Computer Science degree. This comes under the format of a ‘sandwich’ degree, where you sit the first two years of normal study, then in your third year, you work in the industry, before coming back to university in order to finish your studies in your fourth year. Previously, we’ve had students work with companies like Experian and Capital One.

Working for such well-known companies and being able to build a set list of skills with these companies as references, will be a massive selling-point that many employers will love. You will learn skills like time management, and team-working, as well as subject-specific skills like front-end development, for example. I believe a year in industry is a great opportunity for you, especially if you want to enhance your skills in a real-world environment, while also getting the great benefits from a degree.

Computer science societies at UoN 

There are two student-led computer science societies here at the University of Nottingham, CompSoc and HackSoc. Here, I’m going to talk about HackSoc, since CompSoc focuses more on the social side of the course. HackSoc is a society full of like-minded students, and yet the skillset is so diverse. You’ll find people who are skilled in so many aspects of the subject, and many different programming languages, that you’re bound to learn something new from the community alone. However, this isn’t all which HackSoc offers. They offer all kinds of CV-building activities, from workshops, all the way to hackathons. 

Personally, I can say the workshops I’ve been able to attend are incredible! One of the workshops I attended was about Cyber Security, which is an element of Computer Science that I always struggled to understand. Another workshop I loved taught me how to use SDL. SDL (Simple DirectMedia Layer) is a library that is used for Game Development, making games such as Angry Birds, Counterstrike: Source, and more. Attending both workshops strengthened my ability in the respective subjects, as well as gave me a clear path on how to develop my skills in the subjects further. For example, I’m now working on expanding my knowledge of Cyber Security, and I don’t think I would have had the motivation to do it without having this workshop to help kick it off. 

HackSoc also hosts multiple guest talks. One of the talks I enjoyed was about how Microsoft’s Azure Percept can be used to make Home Automation (for example voice-activated devices) possible. Talks are really useful since they can give you an insight into really cool, niche, specific areas of computer science. I find them so interesting and amazing, and honestly, it takes one talk about a topic you’re really interested in, for you to craft a perfect path to your dream career! 

Programming contests 

The school also hosts multiple programming contests throughout the academic year. As of the time of writing, I’ve participated in 2 tournaments. The first was a start-of-year programming challenge, where I was paired with 2 other students and given 10 different programming tasks and given 5 hours to solve them. It was a great day, especially the free pizza, but more importantly the skills I learned during it. I learned how to work in a team of students I hadn’t met before that day, as well as learnt new ways in which I can approach programming challenges. Let me tell you, employers love this! 

On top of this, I’ve participated in the annual Advent of Code. This is an external programming challenge; however, many students here take part every year. This challenge is a way for you to complete some festive-themed problems, talk about them with peers, and learn some new programming concepts, and maybe a new language. I would highly recommend it to anyone who has even the slightest interest in coding, it’s a lot of fun! 

Finally, HackSoc is the organiser of the annual HackNotts hackathon. This is a one-of-a-kind programming contest hosted at our very own Jubilee Campus, where you have 24 hours to create any idea you would like, whether this is hardware-based or software-based. It’s a great way to dip your toes into a part of Computer Science you may have felt scared to try before and be able to learn. If you decide to create a team, then your teamwork skills will flourish too. Not to mention your enhanced skills in time management, project management and creativity as a result of this whole event.

Conclusion

There are so many opportunities for you to explore, and it’s all here… ready for you. I hope you’ve enjoyed this blog, and I hope to see you on our campus next year!