Student Highlights
Turning a gaming interest into a boss-level career

Maths, physics and computers always interested Jacob when he was growing up. This fascination guided him through school and towards his Bachelor of Software Engineering degree when he started university.

“The transition to university was a significant change for me. Here, I found myself surrounded by talented individuals, and the environment was more challenging. This encouraged me to be more engaged in my studies,” he said.

Taking an interest in video games, Jacob wanted to understand the technology behind them, and eventually create his own.

“From a young age I have always been interested in the things that make the world work, especially computers. I always loved playing video games and from when I was a teenager and I often played them competitively. This grew into an interest in how these games worked under the hood and how I could eventually build them myself,” he said.

Changing his engineering focus from mechatronics to software engineering was a natural progression after he started studying and realised his true interest was in the software of how things evolved.

“I was still very interested in physics and robotics. I loved watching the really cool things they could do and how they could interact with the world. Eventually I found that I enjoyed software the most of these fields and chose to specialise in it, changing my degree to software engineering,” he said.

A key highlight of his degree so far has been the opportunities and connections he has been able to create both with his peers and to secure a job opportunity in a local software engineering company.

“The courses have developed my skills making me an all-round better software engineer. While being surrounded by other students with the same interests has allowed us to work together to produce cool projects,” he said.

Implementing his skills in the workplace has given Jacob confidence and provided invaluable experience as a software engineer.

“I feel much more confident in my ability to apply my software engineering skills in a professional and practical environment,” he said.

Jacob was supported in his studies by being awarded two scholarships. Receiving both an Excellence Scholarship and a College of Engineering, Science and Environment summer scholarship provided him with financial and academic relief.

“The Excellence Scholarship allowed me to better focus on my studies, not my finances. While the College of Engineering, Science and Environment scholarship gave me the opportunity to work with an academic on research which further contributed to my skills,” he said.

Hoping to pursue further research-based study in the future, studying software engineering has already given Jacob the opportunity to work closely with like-minded individuals and develop his skills, furthering his passion for learning.

“My time at the university has been focused and rewarding, and I’m grateful for the opportunities and challenges it has presented,” he said.

`

Jacob Boyce

Jacob’s interest in how the world works led him to explore pathways to becoming a software engineer. His research determined the University of Newcastle was his best option and he was soon joining other like-minded individuals to pursue his career goals.

The courses have developed my skills making me an all-round better software engineer. While being surrounded by other students with the same interests has allowed us to work together to produce cool projects.