Archive for April, 2008

PHAL!

So as inane conversations go, this one tops most. We do, indeed, PHAL.
PHAL!

BEHOLD!

Big thanks to Rich for driving me to Cardiff to pick up my newly bound dissertation!

Look!
Dissertation!

All that’s left now is to hand it in and get my degree!

The Future

I don’t think about the future as much as I should. And I’m definitely not very good at planning my own future.

I graduate this summer, which forces me to face a fork in the road that is my future. (I was gonna write ‘destiny’ there, but it sounded far too cheesy). One of my two main options is to carry on my education and take up the offer from Swansea to study a Masters degree. Personally, I feel that this would help me in my endeavor of finding employment somewhere down the line. Although, people I’ve talked to (and a number of job adverts), indicate otherwise. In some cases it would be self-deprecating to waste the time and money studying a Masters degree when I could find a good job that doesn’t require one.
There’s also the possibility that some employers may even sponsor me to undertake a Masters degree at some point in future, even if that possibility is a minute one, it’s still better than having to pay for it myself, which brings me to the next point. There’s no ’student loan’ for post graduates. There are grants, bursaries and the likes available to eligible applicants, but it’s unlikely I’d be awarded one, considering my financial position.

The second choice available to me is to just start job hunting as soon as possible. It’s been drilled into us that we should have started job hunting this time last year, but seriously, come on. They say that all the good jobs at the big organisation are gone by now - and thats just it. I don’t want to work for them. Screw Microsoft, Oracle and those corporate entities, and as for Apple offering me a job, I think I’d have to come up with something a little more revolutionary than an Xfire client before they’ll start noticing my existence. The main thing I’m looking for is not high profile work, but work that I’d be happy doing. I don’t particularly care how big the salary is, as long as I’m happy doing whatever it is I’m being paid to do.

One of the jobs that has piqued my interest is a small (2-man, I believe) operation located in Fareham, Hampshire. They have two shipping software products for the Mac. The job advert states they’re looking for a junior software developer with experience with Cocoa amongst some other stuff. The benefits of the job include working with the two developers who, according to the advert, have over 40 years combined experience with Mac software development. It’s this kind of thing that I want to do. Small scale, but fun. I sent my CV off, and explained my current situation, so we can only hope. The only thing is that if I was offered the job, I’d have to move closer to Fareham - naff commuting from Cwmbran… that’s a bad road to go down.

So that’s where I’m currently standing. I think I’d be happy with 2:1 and ecstatic with a 1st. But who knows, I guess I’d be a little disappointed with a 2:2. And I think I’d be mortified if I got anything worse. Only time will tell at this stage. I think it’d be a good idea to go look for some more jobs now.

It’s Like, “Whoa”, You Know?

I guess you don’t know… What I’m trying to get across is the feeling one gets when one has just finished bashing out 17,000 words on one topic. 20,000 if you want to get pedantic and include every title, contents, code snippet and appendix.

That’s correct, I’ve finished my dissertation entitled Xflame, The Development of an Xfire Client for Mac OS X.

The client, almost a year in the making, is functional enough for topical use. I wouldn’t wish it upon anyone as a permanent solution at this point, but the ground work is there.

Here’s a quick peek:
Xflame

The finished copies are currently being bound with nice red hardcovers at Abbey Bookbinders. Hopefully, Abbey won’t mess up and miss a page or screw up the order or something… We can only hope.

The submission date is this Thursday and the binding won’t be finished until Wednesday. It’s cutting it fine, but I think I’ll be ok.

Epic Betrayal!

Just watch, I’m not sure words can convey the epic-ness of this one. Thank whatever higher power put physics and games in the same melting pot.