Oliver - Full Interview
Name: Oliver
From: Leeds
Degree: BEng Software Engineering with a Foundation year.
Oliver was interviewed at the end of his final year
I´ve always enjoyed computing, and a family friend works as a software engineer so I knew what a career in computing would involve. When I chose my A level subjects at college, I didn´t realise that I would need A2 maths to study software engineering. I therefore came in through the foundation year route.
I chose to study here because I looked round several Universities and Sheffield was the best. I liked the University accommodation and the fact that the department itself had a good reputation. Genesys also heavily influenced my decision to choose Sheffield, though as it turns out, I´ve decided not to do the fourth year.
In the first year most of your time is taken up with the core computing modules which form the foundations of your degree. I enjoyed the Artificial Intelligence topics, including the theoretical and philosophical issues surrounding Artificial Intelligence. For example, when a robot performs a task can its behaviour be classed as intelligent, or it is just a machine carrying out our instructions? You also get some free choice of topics from anywhere in the University so I chose some Philosophy topics. Philosophy wasn´t an area I´d studied before but the free choice modules provide a good opportunity to try something new.
Software Hut involves teams of four second year students developing a software product for a client. A tutor acted as our team project manager and we met with them once a week through the development process to discuss our progress. We also met weekly with our client to get their input into how the product was developing. Each team was awarded points from the client for how well we interacted with them, and points from the project manager. Our team was the highest scoring team which resulted in us representing the department in the IBM `Thinkpad Challenge´ competition. This is an annual event involving students from all over the country, held at the IBM headquarters in London. The teams competed against each other on several different challenges. We weren´t the overall winners of the day but it was a great opportunity to get involved in a company like IBM, and if you apply for a job with them in the future the fact that you´ve competed in the challenge will obviously help.
I did a third year project with Prof Mike Holcombe area of his research with the Computational Biology group. In 2012, a NASA mission will take place to map the asteroid belt in our solar system, and Mike´s research is part of the preparation. The theory is to use swarms of robots to map the asteroid belt. Three types of robots will be involved –leaders to decide which asteroids are going to be sampled; workers to sample the asteroid; and messengers to keep in touch with mission control. Using swarm based intelligence is a biologically inspired idea based on ant behaviour. Individually, ants aren´t very intelligent, but collectively they achieve a great deal.
My particular project involved producing a computer simulation to replicate the robot - asteroid interaction. The simulation can be run with any number and combination of different robots and the data produced shows how many robots will be destroyed and how many asteroids sampled for any given scenario. A simulation allows us to estimate how successful a mission would be before it´s carried out. My project produced the prototype simulation– a finished model was outside the scope of a 12 week project, but the work will be carried on and could be used by NASA one day.
In the summer vacation I worked at a technology company in Leeds, which carries out disaster recovery, and they have offered me a job. It would be catastrophic if a large organisation such as a police force or hospital developed a fault or system failure which resulted in the loss of their data, which is where disaster recovery companies come in. We carry a backup copy of all their data and step in if they have system problems. The company were happy to employ me with a BEng, rather than the MEng. I´ve therefore decided not to stay on for the fourth year. It was a difficult decision to make, but I´ve been offered a full time senior position with a reputable company, and I can go back and do a masters qualification at some time in the future, if necessary. The work is an interesting mix of meeting clients and using my technical qualifications. I started work as soon as I finished my final exams, and next week I´m going on a business trip to Canada.