Keeping Balance

For my last blog in the series of them, I will be discussing how to keep balanced social and work. This is possibly the most important aspect of university life. If you cant balance, something will go wrong. Yes you are at university to study and learn, but you are also there to discover new things about you.

You will have a lot of work to do compared to what you had at previous educational institutions. You will have reading, essays, revision and more to try and do. You will be given notice, you will have enough time to complete all of the tasks you are given. What it boils down to is time management, decide when you are going to do your work and stick to it. Use the facilities provided on campus and your own, and it will be easier than if you try to struggle with everything.

Socializing is also important. Now to clarify, I am not a dancer or drinker. I am not a fan of going out and getting drunk whilst clubbing every Saturday night. I prefer to socialize either online with friends (I'm a computing student, what do you expect) or I am at my Air cadet Squadron running that.

As I keep mentioning, the time balancing is important. The way I do it is I set aside time to socialize, I know that sounds odd doing it that way, but here is my reasoning. If I know when I have made plans to game, or when I am attending cadets, I have a goal to aim for when studying. I do studying in chunks of 40 mins on 20 mins relaxing. This is based on my information retention span (I took a test when I did my AS levels) so i can work harder for longer. This may or may not work for you so find your own balance and go with it.

I will post on here the link to the next set of blogs (they are being hosted elsewhere) so you can keep following if you are interested.

Open Days

This week it's all about the open days, and why it's important to attend them. Open days at all universities are an integral part of your choices. This is your opportunity to see the campus, accommodation and ask the questions you need to.

For my open day at the University of Bedfordshire, I went armed with questions. Read about the course (as mentioned in several if the previous blog posts), read reviews, and went with as much knowledge as possible. With this prior knowledge in mind, I was able to ask relevant questions, and clear up any discrepancies I had. I was able to confirm teaching structure, course structure, and most importantly exam structure.

A tour of the campus provided me with a nice overall look at where I would be working for the next few years, as well as some useful pointers for places to study. Along with this, pointers of where the best places for food and drink were also welcomed.

I have not stayed in university accommodation, I have traveled from home each day, so I did not go on the tour. However, my friends who did, said that it was very well presented, and assisted in making their choices.

Next week its all about the balance of study and socializing, and the problems and possible solutions that come with going to university.

How the course is taught

This week I'm delving into the details of my course specifically, as well as an overview of the majority of computing courses. I'm going to talk about the make-up of the course, choices and the lecturers themselves.

All computing courses (apart from a couple specialized like maths) have the exact same first year. You all do the same 4 units, all taught at the same time, together. This means that everyone gets the same level of teaching as a basis to move forward next year. It also means that if during the year you decide that you want to change course because something else looks better than what you were planning on doing, you can. As I'm talking about first year, I would like to clarify something regarding the mythology around the whole "first year doesn't count". Your right, it doesn't count towards your final degree grade. HOWEVER, you must still PASS the year otherwise, congratulations on wasting £9000+ to sit around and do nothing all year. I can't stress enough, make use of your first year, make your mistakes here, ask questions, get to know your lecturers, get to know where help is and how you get it and most importantly, learn how to use BREO (the online course/University management tool).

On the course that I am studying, Computer Security and Forensics, you do not get a choice of modules. I know that on other computing courses this is the same. Do the research, find out what your course is structured like. Not having to choose, at least based on my experience with my brother who had to choose at his university, is actually quite relieving. Yes, you might end up doing a unit you dislike. However, if you had to choose and you wanted to do one unit, then got rejected and had to do a unit you disliked, then it would feel worse. in my experience so far, the units themselves are selected for a reason whether you feel they are relevant or not. My advice, roll with it and if you have any problems bring it up with your course representative, or the lecturer.

On the subject of lecturers, lets talk about them next. In my experience so far, they are all very approachable and willing to listen to your opinions, no matter what they are. If you dont like the unit, what is being taught, you don't understand, whatever the issue is, they are willing to listen. As an example, we had a major issue with one of our units this year, we were expected to have A-level maths knowledge in order to build upon it with engineering based maths. Now, I was the only person in the class who had touched A-level maths, and I failed it. After a couple of lectures of this going completely over our heads, I was asked to go to the head of unit to get it sorted. After several meetings/conversations, we came to the conclusion that the teaching syllabus would change to incorporate some maths lessons, and that subject matter would be adapted to less intense maths. Also for next year, the entire unit would be re-structured to prevent this from happening again. So through talking and conversation with the lecturers, we took what was clearly a problem and turned it into a positive outcome.

I know this weeks blog was longer than normal, so if you stayed till the end then thanks. Next week I'll be talking about open days and how important it is to go armed with certain things.

Ahhh, those were the days...

This week its time to get nostalgic. I look back at my past two years and decide what is my most memorable memory. What I have decided to do, is look back only on the past year and choose from there. The past year for me has seen quite a change, both inside and outside of university life.

So during this year, I have been a PAL leader, a course representative as well as the group project leader in all my projects. All of these were personal achievements for which I am very proud. Outside of University I have become a Pilot Officer RAF VR(T) (Volunteer Reserve Training) within the Air cadet Organisation, and recently taken command of my cadet Squadron. Also, I have discovered that I'm not as bad as I used to be at gaming, though still pretty rubbish in the grand scheme of things. All in all, these things have made it a good year.

However, my number one experience of the year, has to be the opportunity to work with Bedfordshire Police on a "real" case. It was real in a sense that the malicious attack had happened to a real world company, using real world software. Myself, along with four of my friends went to the company and assisted in the removal of the malware, as well as securing it against further attack of this nature. Whilst I cant go into great detail, I can say that it was a very enjoyable and enlightening experience to have an opportunity to work with Bedfordshire Police. The University have a full media article here if you are interested in some more information on this.

This weeks blog is shorter than usual, however next week I'll be talking about how my course is taught, so that will definitely take some more reading.

Choosing your new University

The results are in, you know what you want to study, but the question is where? Do you go and study a subject at a university that you like the name of? Do you find the subject that you desperately want to study but it's at an obscure university on the other side of the planet? The trick is to find the balance.

So to start with, the university itself. My biggest tip would be to do the research on not just the university, but the halls, the local area, the nightlife, the societies, everything and anything that is important to you. Make sure you actually read the 'small print' as it were. Don't just look for the good reviews, look at the not so good ones as well. With a balanced outlook, then you can decide if the university is for you.

But before you can look for universities, you need to find a course that is good for you. Again, there are a few things that you will need to bear in mind. Research, research, research. Do not just pick a course on a whim, nor pick a course because it's at the university you want to go to. Look at the course, is it a sandwich, is it a 3 or 4 year, what the units are, will there be choices, this and many more things relating to any course need to be researched. Do not just pick a course because it sounds fun, speak to people who are already taking it and get the negative points as well. Then, you can make an informed decision.

I picked the University of Bedfordshire to study Computer Security and Forensics for several reasons. I briefly mentioned last week how I came to choose the University and the course. I'll elaborate a bit with a bit more background. I never originally wanted to go to university, I was just going into the world of work. However, because of my A-level grades, I wasn't able to do what I wanted to do. After working in jobs that were rather boring and dead-end, I decided that I was going to go to university. After doing some looking around, I came to the conclusion that I wanted to do Computer Security and Forensics. After looking at several universities, I discovered that no-one apart from the University of Bedfordshire did the course I wanted to do. Several did however do similar courses, but after some research either the units didn't look as good, or the university facilities didn't appeal to me. So it was a combination of all of these that led me to choose my course and university.

Next week I'm going to talk about a reflection of my past year, and some key events that I have found interesting this past year.

Me, myself and I

So for my first blog, I decided that I would talk a bit about me and my course. My name is Scott Dewson, I'm 23 years old and I'm studying Computer Security and Forensics (CSF) for the second year. I am a big gamer (both board and computer) and I am usually terrible at both. The time that's not spent studying or gaming is usually taken up by my role as a Squadron Commander within the Air Cadets.

The course that I'm taking is very relevant to what's happening in the world at the moment. For those of you who aren't up to date with what's going on in cyber security, I'll give you a quick overview. The UK are attacking China, China are attacking North Korea, North Korea are shaking their fists at everyone, Russians are attacking Russia, Russia is also attacking anything that moves, and everyone is attacking the US. Looks like a messed-up war zone don't you think? Well, it is. It may not seem it on the surface, or even publicly, but war is moving from the battle-ground to cyber-space. This is where the CSF students come in. We will eventually move into one of two areas, either the protection (Security) or the investigation (Forensics) sectors. With the protection we will be testing defences, and fixing holes before malicious attackers can exploit them. With investigating, we will be doing a post-mortem on attacks to figure out what happened and how it was conducted. 

So why did I choose this course? Because of how awesome the technology is, how interesting the subject is, and that the future of computing rests completely on the future of this area of study and the people studying it. Without people defending computers from attacks and malicious uses, computers would not be safe to use for anything (not that they're hugely safe now). 

Why the University of Bedfordshire? Because at the time it was the only University to offer a Security and Forensics package. The lecturers and technicians know what they are talking about. Some lecturers have years of experience in teaching the subject, others have industrial experience in the subject, and a couple have both. If you want people who really know what they are doing, then Bedfordshire is the place to go.

And what's the best thing about my University life so far? The people. I know it sounds cliche, but it's definitely the people that make the Uni experience. Not just the friends, but just the people in general. Bedfordshire is a very diverse University both culturally and ethnically, and it's this that makes the best experiences. I have learnt more about different cultures and the food (my god, the food) in my two years at Bedfordshire than in 11 years of Religious studies in school. 

With A-level exams going on now and Year 12's looking towards University choices soon, next week I'm going to talk about choosing the right University. More importantly, the choices that come with picking a University beyond the name.

Make your own opportunities

Joining university is a hard and a life changing decision. The course you want to study, the university and if further study is right for you. The likelihood is that going to university is the first major opportunity you’ll encounter. It’s a major stepping stone towards a career, but getting accepted to the university is the first hurdle.

The definition of luck is that it’s brought on by chance rather than one’s own action, but opportunities on the other hand can be brought on by things like skill, determination and contacts. Doing things like researching into a programming language for a programming course before going into the university interview or maybe playing around in some 3D software when joining a 3D Animation interview means a lot. The interviewee may have someone who’s done exactly that, meaning if you haven’t dabbled and researched you might find yourself looking elsewhere. Every small thing counts, printing Hello World maybe slight, but at least you've taken the time to look into it in your own time. The more effort you put in, the results will clearly show and will give you a much wider range of options in life’s next step. This is my last blog post, I've successfully finished university with a first and achieved everything I wanted to. I thought I’d round up with something that I wish I was told when I was younger. Make your own opportunities can be something as simple as joining a user group, every single contact you create is vital for when you finish university. It’s very long term, but every little bit extra you do will help in the long run. My final year of university I did an internship, Microsoft Student Partnership, freelanced, co-authored a paper and planned it all around my study time. These have all led to other opportunities and such as guest blog post sites on some major websites all because of the blog you’re reading now!