You may be asking yourself why on earth am I starting my first blog post with ‘Done’, however that’s the topic today.

You see, I’m finished. University, that is. After four years (five really, but who’s counting) of Trinity College I now have a degree in Computer Science, B.A. (Mod). How pretentious, right?

It’s worth reflecting on just how lucky I’ve been with my career choice. When I first selected my course choices in 2006, it was computer science or law. The .COM bubble was still lingering in the back of people’s minds, and numbers entering computer science were at their lowest. Law was cut throat, and an invincible career path. I chose computer science.

After my first two years at Trinity, I’d been on a whole host of society committees, and seen numerous famous people talk at The Phil. I watched my class size drop from the 55 I started with to just under 30 by second year. I coached the universities target shooting squad to victory in the inter-varsities, and much more besides. I even went to lectures on occasion!

Third year wasn’t so great – 13 examinations, of which I passed ten. Oops.
I decided instead of sitting repeats to take a year away from college. Instead, I spent over a year in IBM as a software engineer, a much needed break from academia. I got to work with some incredibly talented colleagues who remain good friends. I learnt more in my time with IBM than any university can teach.

Then came final year – which was.. Well, grand really. I made some great course choices, where I made a video game and learnt about my favorite area of research, Computer Vision.  I chose a final year project which interested me, and got the chance to make a large traffic mapping framework in technology I enjoyed working with (JS, PHP, Python & MySQL).
I also recall hearing something about Duck-Billed Platypus and Rice Cookers, but let’s not dwell on that.

So here I am, June 2011. Law students are begging for internships, while companies cry out for Computer Science Graduates.

I took ten days off after sitting final exams, then started work with a small mobile software development company called Feedhenry in Waterford.

I’m done.