Joshua Miles

Why Computer Science?

My dad bought me a Raspberry Pi (the little credit-card-sized computer thing) after its launch in 2012, and since then I’ve found great interest in building, securing and maintaining computer systems. Any part of Computer Science that you explore will ultimately lead you to discover many more opportunities to develop your learning. Similar to Hardiv, I started off with Scratch back in primary school and taught myself some other basic languages like HTML and Python later on.

What did you find hardest about Comp Sci?

Programming complicated algorithms has never really been my forte and it’s not something I enjoy, but I understand it’s essential to many careers in Computer Science so I still work hard on growing my knowledge around that sort of thing.

What do you see yourself doing in the future?

At the moment, I’m planning on going into a degree apprenticeship in cyber security. I’ve always found the security aspect of computers super interesting (I loved participating in CyberDiscovery back when that was a thing) and I look forward to putting that into practical use at a company following Sixth Form.

I will ALWAYS shill degree apprenticeships as an alternative route, but if you’re not too familiar with them, some of the advantages are:

• Real world work experience - you'll have lots of experience at a company which can be put on your CV

• Degree is fully funded by your employer

• A decent size salary, some of which can even compete with graduate salaries!

• At the end, you’ll have a pretty much guaranteed position at the company you’re working at, or you’ll likely be able to find a job elsewhere easily

I know degree apprenticeships aren’t for everyone though, and there are certainly some career prospects where they're not as widely offered as in the fields of technology or engineering for example, but I’d highly recommend looking into them as a potential route after school.

Best Comp Sci project? What's your NEA on? 

I run some small Minecraft-related projects in my free time which has definitely expanded my knowledge around Computer Science. At the same time, my NEA is a super cool social media platform called Jitter which combines the best features from Twitter and Reddit into one, nice-looking and user-friendly website. You might be able to view it here depending on whether I've completed it or not 😭

Do you have any advice for students studying Comp Sci?

Don't just visit Comp Sci Soc for topics that sound interesting to you - visit for others that you might not understand or might not be as comfortable with. That's what will build your knowledge even more, alongside any other extracurricular activities you're able to do.

Regardless of what career you're planning on going into - and whether you're exploring degree apprenticeships or not - create a LinkedIn profile as soon as you can, start networking with people, and get some work experience. It might take some time, but if you put in the effort, I can't recommend it enough.