I am an undergraduate Computer Science student here at the University, just starting my third year of study of a five year degree and I’m eager to get going again. I started work in the Research Computing team at the end of my first year and I have been ever-present since, working full time over the summers and part time during term. This experience has been invaluable for me to get real-world experience in a field of computing of increasing interest to me; research and development.
For over a year I have been part of a growing team within IT Services, establishing myself as a ‘Research Software Assistant’. My role focuses around compiling software for use on the HPC facility BlueBEAR and improving the automation of this process. EasyBuild has been instrumental in improving the way software is installed and managed as a whole and allows us to build more applications in a consistent manner across all of our platforms, compared to building applications manually. Over time I have taken on more responsibilities which include writing content on the intranet for our researchers, web development in Django, and currently investigating the use of Singularity to provide different environments to the BlueBEAR jobs. This would work by spinning up pre-built containers on demand for example to allow older applications which may no longer be supported to still work on modern hardware and operating systems.
During my time I have been fortunate to participate in several events throughout the year. This includes attending the BEAR Cloud Launch run by Research Computing here at Birmingham, a tour of the Red Bull F1 Racing factory in Milton Keynes which was run by one of our suppliers, and an HPC Special Interest Group meeting at Warwick University. These are fantastic opportunities to network and meet people and have given me an insight into how other organisations operate and utilise tools to solve a variety of problems. This goes hand-in-hand with a computer science mind-set of expanding knowledge and skills to boost problem solving and to make practical use of different theories.
I am thoroughly enjoying myself here at the University as a student and a staff member and have been made to feel welcome by everyone in the team and throughout IT Services. This is a substantial morale boost and has encouraged me to discuss things freely with people in the team. As a student this level of understanding from my colleagues has boosted my development and creates a supportive environment within which a high level of productivity can be maintained.
Here’s to another good year!
