My final-year degree project involved developing and implementing an algorithm to detect changes between two OpenDocument Text files. Not perhaps the most exciting project in the world, but one that has genuinely useful applications.
Read more about my project, read my dissertation or download the software.
The graduation ceremony on Friday was fun, but a bit like Christmas: a little too over-commercialised and over-hyped, so that in the end while it was good it wasn’t quite as good as it had been made out to be.
I got a bit frustrated with the silly costume so took it off shortly after the ceremony. My dad did take lots of photos of me wearing it before the ceremony - most of which make me look very silly (and rather fat).
The “official” graduation photo (£36, and you get to hold a bit of white plastic pipe which is meant to be a “scroll”) takes 4-6 weeks to arrive. Can’t wait…
Last week I had my last “holiday” before I start work (i.e. the next time I have a holiday I’ll have to book time off and use up a relatively short holiday allowance and so on); a comparatively short three-night break in Paris with my brother. I’ve been on holiday in France several times in the past, and I even worked there for 10 weeks two years ago, but I’d never been to the capital city. Since Easyjet fly there comparatively cheaply from Bristol, and I’m still slightly wary of travelling somewhere where I don’t understand any of the language*, I decided that Paris would be a good choice of short break.
The weather wasn’t brilliant, but it didn’t rain much, so we had a good time walking round the usual tourist venues without having to visit a single museum.
My photos from the trip are on Flickr.
*I got an A* at GCSE French, which means I can just about fumble my way through buying a beer or lunch or train tickets without needing too many hand gestures. I can also decipher most roadsigns, food packages and menus without too much trouble. Which all seems a bit pointless, because as soon as a native French speaker hears me mumbling Franglais they respond in brilliant English, and most of the menus in the sort of place we were eating in Paris are bilingual. At least I can figure out which toilets are the gents without too much trouble…
It was a week or so ago that I discovered my degree result. I’d known for a long time (since our course is assessed to a large extent on coursework, and I took several exams in January) that I was on the boundary between a 2:1 and a first class degree, so I was rather chuffed when I found that I’d come comfortably inside the boundary for a first.
Without wanting to sound big-headed, I’m especially pleased because, as I did at school when I got four A-grade A-levels, and prior to that straight A/A* GCSEs, I worked hard, but not too hard. I guess I’m very lucky that I can do well academically without putting in an extraordinary amount of effort. I’ve spent a large part of the last three years doing things other than uni work (not too much of the typical student drink/party/watch crap TV thing, but a lot of other stuff that I found fun, like volunteering on average ten or more hours a week for St John Ambulance, and going to work abroad). I decided a while ago that having a 2:1 degree and a lot of other good experience would be much better than getting a first class degree but having no life away from uni work. Happily, I’ve managed to get the first, and still have a life away from uni (and I’m fairly sure that I succeeded at my job interview because of the things I’ve learned that aren’t related to my degree course, rather than because of my academic achievements).
In some ways it feels a little like I’ve cheated the system (traditionally I guess one is supposed to go to university to become engrossed in one’s subject for three or four years, studying constantly; whereas I treated uni as a “day job” with added perks like lie-ins and student discounts, and got on with other things the rest of the time). However, I suppose isn’t one part of being smart the ability to get the results you want without expending any more cost or effort than is necessary?