Julian’s PDP

Studying for a BSc (Hons) in Computing and Information Systems at Oxford Brookes has been quite an experience. Throughout my time I have had to study hard and manage my time effectively as I have been working part-time for 20 to 25 per week. The four years have been difficult, however very rewarding. I have developed existing skills and learnt completely new ones on many of the modules that I have taken.
As I am a mature student who had been out of the educational system for ten years I had quite a battle to readjust especially when greeted with binary numbers etc in computers systems and discovering new and strange languages in structured programming. I rapidly realised that I was playing catch up with many of my peers. My first term was therefore very difficult (even though it looks so much easier when I look back with the eyes of a final year student) and involved a great deal of hard work which paid off when I received my results gaining 70% average. With term one in the bag I gained a great deal of confidence but things never seemed to get any easier with more programming, mathematics and information systems to cope with. Time raced by and suddenly the first year was done and I had gained myself a 72% average with a great deal hard slog and determination.
I commenced the second year possibly slightly over confident and under estimated the time I needed to study in order to keep my grades on track. With the standards expected and the level of work rising I struggled through not gaining the marks that I was aiming for and worse still failing Data structures. The remainder of my second year went more successfully however I still found myself remaining on track for a 2:2. With hindsight I feel that I was working too much at my part-time job and had allowed myself to become distracted with the social life at university. On the positive side I did have a lot fun and made some very good friends.

My third year was in the form of an industrial placement. I had gained myself the position of Hardware/Network Analyst at Janssen-Cilag a Johnson and Johnson Company. I was working within the network team which consisted of six experienced analysts and one other student. The initial months of my placement were hard going trying to learn my job as rapidly as I could and trying not to make too many mistakes.
 

My duties were as follows:
      Daily Network Monitoring.
      Network and system back-up and planning.
      Provided 3^rd line support to the helpdesk.
      Provided software and hardware support to all Janssen-Cilag users.
      Evaluated\Tested and configured all new hardware and software.
      Provided technical advice and training to other IM department’s staff.
      Created documentation for new hardware and software.
      Performed hardware maintenance and repair.
      Worked with project managers on various projects.
 

My job queue was never empty and it seemed some days that the phone was constantly ringing. However with plenty of hard work and some bad days thrown in I was able to make the job my own. I also became deeply involved in a number of projects which included up grading a number of sales teams from IBM laptops to Dell and rolling out PDA’s to the entire sales force. This was a great experience for me as it provided an excellent insight into the dynamics of commercial Information Management department.
My industrial placement was fantastic for me in a number of ways. Firstly it increased my practical know how enormously, provided me with a very real insight into the I.T industry and was excellent preparation for my final year.
On commencing my final year in September of last year I felt extremely motivated taking on four modules plus Professional Issues which is running over both semesters. These modules included Multi Media Application and Design, Software Project Management and Data Structures which I had failed in my second. This I was determined to put right and even though I still found it a demanding subject achieved an overall grade of 64%. I am very pleased that I took the opportunity to take Data structures again after my dismal performance at it first time around. By applying myself seriously I believe I gained a great deal from this subject. I have always found the programming side of computing the most difficult to grasp so it was a great opportunity to have a second go at it. I was able achieve a good conceptual understanding of how to store data using appropriate structures and a good idea of which algorithms are most efficient  to use to gain results.
 

Software Project Management was a very demanding module. I think that the content throughout was well presented and relevant to the coursework’s given. Having only been involved in projects as a worker before it was very interesting to examine the processes involved in managing projects. I think that the course illustrated how structured the process should be and also how difficult it is to do well. I believe my attitude and motivation towards the module was generally very good. It being my final year I generally had little problem motivating myself to work hard trying to gain as much as possible as the world of real work gets closer!
 

It was a little more difficult towards the end of the semester with clash of revision time and final course work deadlines. This seems to be a bit more of an issue with semesters for me and others. As I was doing 4 ½ modules the pressure was been on. However I achieved a 70% overall mark and gained an A+ for assignment one.
 Multimedia Application and Design was an excellent module with a great deal to learn from designing and building the website to organising ourselves as a productive team. This we did very well with good communication and the use of a clear and realistic project plan. We were able to evenly distribute the tasks between the team members and went on to organise plenty of meetings in order to trouble shoot any problems.  In hind sight I would have prepared more for the module as I had little to no experience with writing html and using flash. However with hard work and persistence we were able to produce a very good website and report (http://wwwusers.brookes.ac.uk/02000273/ ) that achieved a grade A (75%).
 Professional Issues and Skills may not be the most intellectually demanding module however it has been very useful in terms of helping me to reflect and consider which area of computing I am best suited to pursue a career in. I have also found lectures on proposal writing and tackling reports very useful.  
 

Overall taking on the responsibility and commitment of my degree has been a great success and I believe that it has provided me with a great deal of useful skills to sell myself to prospective employers. Now I have to complete my degree with a 2:1 and find myself the right job!