Cramlington Learning Village - a career in Software Development

Cramlington Learning Village sixth formers came in to our offices at Newcastle University this week looking for inspiration towards their future career choices. Students from the school visited us as part of an inspirational day out to Newcastle University focused on their futures 23 students from the school visited us on Friday 14th February as part of an inspirational day out to Newcastle University focused on their futures....

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After visiting the School of Computing Science on the morning, the first of two groups descended upon us after lunch. Coming in from  the blustery, rainy weather outside they were invited upstairs, laden with goody bags from their previous session.

Many of the students have been considering a career in software development, so this was the focus of the session. Reflective Thinking’s Director Dr. Ahmed Kharrufa and Software Developer Steven Teal both shared how they came into this field of work, with each having a very different path. Ahmed explained how he started programming when he was only nine years old, but Steven only explored this avenue when he was the same age as the students are now, which gave a good insight into how accessible it is for them.

 

Ahmed and Steven also shared their four reasons to have a career in software development, believing it is:

  • creative, you can “create something out of nothing”
  • a career which has a high demand for jobs, especially in the ever-increasing growth of technology in day-to-day life
  • universal, as you can work from anywhere in the world
  • exciting, because often you are the first to engage with new technologies

 

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After each session there was some great questions asked, and it was good to see some students sharing how the day had inspired them to actually go for this career choice. They were also given the opportunity to see the impressive Promethean ActivTable before they finished their day off at the School of Computing Science. 

Teachers Paul Robson and James Woodhouse were really pleased with how the students’ day went and all involved are looking forward to seeing how the future pans out.