Here’s 10 pieces of advice for Stage 1 and 2 students, accumulated from current final year students in the School of Computing. It’s a mixture of what went well in hindsight as well as what we wish we might have known.
1. It sounds early, but it’s a good idea to start making yourself more employable now.
- This advice is important especially if going on placement soon, as it will be easier to make your CV stand out from all the other Computer Science student CVs if you have taken part in opportunities beyond your course.
- It still applies for the same reasons at the end of your degree too though, when competing with other students for graduate roles
- There are opportunities posted in the School of Computing’s ‘Employability newsletter’ every week, and a few examples of things you could do to make yourself more employable include: projects outside of university, coding challenges or hackathons, attending relevant conventions/careers events and taking on an active role in a society.
2. Start coursework early, it soon becomes a natural habit.
- We all work in different ways, but a recurring theme amongst advice from final years is to start work early and make that a habit. Starting on the day the work is set is often useful because your initial thoughts/ideas are still fresh in your memory.
- The feeling of achievement from making some early progress, even just in planning, is good for little motivation boosts throughout the term, and eventually reduces stress around the time of the deadline.
- It will also allow you the opportunity to gauge how difficult the assignment will be, how much time you will need to work on it, and whether you will need to ask questions/seek clarifications. These sorts of things can’t be done the night before.
3. Don’t be afraid to ask questions.
- In my experience, final year students are the most willing to admit “I didn’t understand, can you go over that again”, or to attempt answering a question/problem when they’re not certain of the solution.
- Asking genuine questions is beneficial to everyone in the room – the lecturer ensures that they’ve taught the topic to a satisfactory level of detail, and the rest of the lecture group/class clears up any misunderstandings that they had.
- You pay for this contact time, so leaving with questions unanswered isn’t ideal. Be sure to use your lecturers and academic supervisors’ expertise to the fullest.
4. Getting to grips with programming and mathematical logic takes time and practice.
- This doesn’t just apply to your time at university, but final year students often share this advice for 2 main reasons: (1) You need to know to put the time and effort in, and (2) try not to be disheartened by comparing yourself to others who might be further along than you – everyone arrives at university with various levels of experience!
- Online resources are often very useful, e.g. books and video explanations, but do also seek help from your peers, class supervisors and lecturers. Understanding why we solve problems in particular ways is in many ways more transferable than the actual syntax of a certain language/problem definition.
- If you have time, devising and completing personal extension tasks for the work you’ve been set is a good way to understand course content at a deeper level. Doing personal projects or contributing to opensource projects is also a good opportunity to practice various languages/frameworks.
5. Eat balanced, get enough sleep & take care of yourself.
- Breaks are a necessary and healthy part of studying – use your breaks in such a way that when you next come back to studying you feel energised to work again.
- We’re all fully aware that it is not advised to depend on convenient ready meals and fewer-than-the-recommended-hours of sleep each night – it could have an impact on your health, and will have an impact on your work and your all-round experience at university.
- Your physical health and mental health are both important, and for those of you who have just moved away from family for the first time or anyone taking on more responsibilities, it’s important to remember to look after yourself.
6. Do the year in industry!
- This was a popular piece of advice suggested by final year students.
- The year in industry is of course a great opportunity to develop a lot of personal traits and practical abilities, but students also often come back from their placements more driven and more organized for final year.
- Not to mention that it also has the potential to add a great deal to your CV which gives students stand-out experience when applying for graduate jobs, if they have not already accepted an offer of a graduate role at their placement company.
7. It’s important to know the basics, before diving into advanced topics.
- Playing the game of catch-up when learning more advanced topics will ultimately put more pressure on you.
- This also applies for moving between years of study – each stage of university builds on principles learned in the previous, so keep hold of your notes/assessment resources for when you might need to refer to them.
8. Use your place at university to the fullest.
- University is expensive, and it’s a lot of money to pay just for turning up to the lectures and doing assignments.
- The university community presents a whole host of opportunities, and you may regret not taking them once you’ve left. For example, consider attending the talks/events that are advertised in the School of Computing, as well as university wide.
- Also trial any societies that you are interested in whilst you have the spare time – you may find it more challenging to fit in society events in later years of study unless you’re already committed to them and used to organizing your study time around society events. It’s classic advice that societies are an effective way to make friends and discover hobbies you haven’t tried before.
9. Keep your notes/resources in a structured manner so that they’re useful when you want to use them for revision.
- It’s not effective to rely on re-watching all the lectures during the exam revision break.
- As a side note to this, its important to turn up to the lectures unless you have genuine reasons to miss them. If you do miss teaching content, try to catch-up as soon as possible after, so that you have the base knowledge for the following lectures and classes.
- If you have access to past exam papers, practice them in advance and then you can ask lecturers/class supervisors for advice on how to answer questions where you may have struggled.
10. Seek advice as soon as you need it.
- It’s easy to forget that your academic supervisor is there to offer support with any issues you may have – so make use of the support mechanisms that could benefit you around university.
- If you need advice/support with a particular module, then consider contacting the module convenor, lecturers or class supervisors directly.
Written by Employability Ambassador Abigail Patterson – February 2020
Further advice is available on the advice board in the School of Computing undergraduate common room.
In conjunction with the ‘what I wish I had known’ advice final year student David Arnold, will be showing students how to use Git,GitHub and JetBrains to aid your studies and showcase your skills on Wednesday 4 March from 1-2pm in Cornwallis SW101.This is a practical workshop so bring along your laptop, install Git and sign up to GitHub and JetBrains prior to the session.
Email csemploy@kent.ac.uk for instructions on how to sign up and install.