Hey everyone, it’s been a while since I have added any more reviews for the Masters in Computer Science at the University of York as I have been offered a new job!
I was due to study Computer and Mobile Networks (CAMN) this month but I’ve had to put it on hold as I’m super excited to announce that I have received the offer for a graduate position as a Data Engineer at…. PlayStation!! 🍾🥳
It all happened so quick that I didn’t even have time to write, process and share the journey with you!
So this is what’s been happening over the past 2 months…
I accidentally forgot to pay for my next module – which Uni are quite strict about – so I had 2 months to kill so I decided to do a Full-Stack Web Development course by Angela Yu on Udemy and work on my CV and portfolio. I used the web development part(HTML/CSS/Bootstrap) of the full-stack course as a refresher on concepts I already knew and used that to help me build a portfolio website. I decided to use Github’s pages because it was free and easy.
CV + Portfolio
After I decided to get a FREE custom domain to make it look more professional. All students who get the Github Student pack are entitled to a free domain name plus 100+ of other amazing tools. I’ve written an article on awesome digital freebies for tech students from Wireframing tools to analytical tools to free domain names and graphics-making tools. It’s the best and biggest collection of software, tools, and resource out there for Computer Science majors.
I realised out of the first 4 modules I have completed 3 of them were assignment-based so I converted those into projects for my online portfolio. Then I made my CV and decided to start applying for internships to see what I could get with what I already had. I’m about 1/3 of the way through the Master’s degree but I knew from my BA that these competitive fields will require “work experience”. I made the mistake with my BA to start interning after I had graduated. Therefore I wanted to intern before I had graduated to trial this new career out. I didn’t think I would actually get a full-time role!
What will I work on?
I haven’t started yet but I think I will be working within a team that manages PSN data! =O I’m super excited!!! I had a catch up with the line manager and he said I will be learning for the first year about the role and be given a mentor. I can’t wait to have a mentor I can’t wait to learn more about data engineering. I have no idea what it involves I mean… I know what I’ve read up about and researched about but not what actually happens… in a real-life business 😱
Delaying studies until 2022
I knew I would be overwhelmed with studying AND a starting new job in a brand new field so I made the really difficult decision to put studying on hold until January 2022. It is a shame and I’m gutted as I really enjoy studying and learning new things and this will also push my graduation date until about 2023-2024 depending on if I take any more breaks.
I decided to do this to help my mental health as the next few months will be very intense with lots of new tools and processes to learn and studying a Masters itself was overwhelming even without stressful work thrown into the mix.
This was just a brief blog to update you guys on the pausing of further reviews for the Computer Science Masters and to also let you know as I have 4 months to kill I will be converting my movement Madhat Girls to Mad Brave soon.
Mad Brave
I think I spoke about this before that the ethos behind Madhat Girls has changed I had moved towards workshops but honestly, nothing was driving me to continue. I think I should have changed the purpose rather than the product. After reading Why Brands with a purpose do better and matter more I totally see the point of having a purpose rather than a service. A purpose pushes you when you feel demotivated, a purpose gives you a reason to put in the hours. The service is just your solution and way to contribute to how you envision a better world to be. A purpose is a driving force for every action you make and your values keep those actions in line with your vision.
That’s why we were so driven with Madhat Girls – for a while – until our vision changed. I don’t think building a community for creative entrepreneurial females was something that aligned with me anymore since I was not a female entrepreneur myself. I was building a community for what I wanted to be rather than helping others get to where they wanted to be.
Everyone has something they wish they did or could do and that’s why I still want to continue pursuing this vision but just tweak it a bit. I’ve decided to change direction with Madhat Girls and rebrand it into Mad Brave.
Mad Brave’s vision is for women to harness the power of self-doubt through creativity, self-care and courage to move into a STEM field.
Follow my pesonal twitter @Bexabot to get more regular updates!
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Hello Bexa,
Congratulations on the role! I picked up your blog from your review of the big data module at York, as its the next one I’m due to sit. Thank you for that.
Nosing through some posts and reading your ‘about’ page, it struck me that we share some more commonalities. I was a lone child raised by a single mum too, as my brother is 10 years older than me and left when I was young. I spent my time doing graphics in cracked versions of photoshop/fireworks, making websites, always wanting to be able to program and roaming forums. Another thing you’ve mentioned that struck me as similar is not feeling ‘intelligent’ enough. Perhaps feeling alone at a young age whilst being creative characterises people to be vulnerable to this insecurity. This person probably doesn’t develop a concept of relatability because they learn to satisfy their intellectual needs alone. Their personal work isn’t designed with others in mind so this young person puts their feet in the shoes of someone who wants to understand their work/intelligence.
PS. It’s inspiring to see you have in been chipping away, seeing that you started posting problem sets back in 2018.
All the best,
Jay
Hi Jay,
That’s mad how similar some of our upbringing was. And yes the imposter syndrome was caught really early on. I read online somewhere that solitude is needed in order to be creative so maybe loneliness and creativity coincide with each other. Thank you for reading all my jibber jabber! It’s an exciting time for us all and I’m happy we crossed paths anyhow and I’ll probs see you on the uni slack channel. Enjoy BDA!