Adam Griffiths - Looking towards University: Look out Cardiff!

Hi, I'm Adam Griffiths, a Computer Science Student and Freelance Web Applications and CodeIgniter developer based in Shrewsbury, UK. I might only be 18 but I've written a book, maintained a popular blog and am one of the organisers behind CodeIgniter Con 2010, the first two-day UK conference and hack day for CodeIgniter.

Looking towards University: Look out Cardiff!

So yes I have finally finished my college course, got the top grade and have done everything I need to be prepared for University. I am hugely excited for University not only to get a degree, but for the experience, to meet new people and to move away from home.

Degree

Of course the main reason I am going to Uni in the first place is to further my knowledge and get myself a degree. I ultimately want to work at Google and a degree is the first step to getting my foot in the door; no degree, no fulfillment of my dream. Sidenote: I am now starting to learn Python as it is used in many Google projects, so I'm learning it now to get some good experience with it during Uni, I will do anything I can to help my chances of working at Google, even if that means learning a whole new language! I am well aware of the difficulty of University work, I know you have to research a lot and do a lot of self learning, and I am sure I can handle it. I like to throw myself in the deep end; I like to just jump in with projects and get them done. This will be no different, the work will be hard but the reward at the end will be great enough to justify doing it in the first place.

University Experience

I would be lying if I said I wasn't looking forward to the inevitable University parties. Although some may call me a party animal, others (my mother) may call me mad, I am simply a (soon-to-be) Uni student and think I should live up to the stereotype!! So I'm getting a lot of practice in for the fun times to be had whilst at Uni.

Of course the Uni experience is moving somewhere new. Whilst looking at Universities I would like to go to (I had a list of about 20) I whittled the numbers down by removing the ones too close to home (Birmingham) and those too far away (all the scottish Uni's). I also want to move down towards Cardiff/bristol/Bath area (yes I know there's the sea in between Cardiff and Bristol, but shhh) so ended up accepting offers from both Cardiff University (first choice) and UWE Bristol (second choice). I'm bound to get some messages exclaiming why I would ever want to go to UWE when my first choice is Cardiff University; the answer is simply "it's where I want to live".

Meet new people

Ok so it isn't all about the degree and the parties. University would be crazily boring if I weren't going to meet loads of cool new people. What strikes me is the sheer diversity of the people I am likely to meet, and the people who I will live with for a year in my University Halls of Residence. Even though I have picked the halls closest to the School of Computer Science it's likely that most of my housemates will be on other courses, which should hopefully help me keep a divide between Uni work and play. After all I don't particularly want to be talking about coursework and exams when down the pub, do I?

Move away

Finally I am heavily looking forward to moving out of Shrewsbury, away from family and friends and become independent. That last sentence sounds like I hate everybody. I love Shrewsbury, it's a brilliant town and Shropshire is a lovely place. I love my family, they're all awesome, but I couldn't live around the corner from them; they all worry far too much. At least when I'm in Cardiff they won't be knocking on my door every day to see how I am. Al my friends are great too, I've had an immense amount of fun with all my college friends, both inside of college and outside. I have had loads of great times with all those in my local pub. All of that is great but I will continue to have awesome times with everyone whenever I am back in Shrewsbury. A few of my friends are going off to University (one of which is following me to Cardiff) and it'll be great to meet back up in Shrewsbury every now and then for a pint or ten.

So yes, I am really excited to be heading off to University in September. So much so in fact that at the time of writing this post, I only have 78 days left before I go. I am also slightly scared (that isn't the right word but I'm running with it) of the new challenges I will receive, I know I'll do fine but it's just an odd feeling.