Zoya
BSc (Hons) Computer Science
I think that when I came to Computer Science, I thought engineers are quite quiet and not sociable people. I feel like I realised the potential in myself and showed other people that you don’t have to fit that stereotype.
Relevant skills
"A lot of my course is programming and coding. Within my first year, we learnt Java which is a popular language in the industry, and we do a lot of projects around what we learn, to get us ready for the industry.
"What I like is building software because it's more creative and it's more about the user experience. I like that because there’s an interaction with the client. We do quite a lot of individual and team projects. In the second year, we did a real-life project with a client called Triple-A who work with Jaguar Land Rover.
"There are so many avenues that I can explore with the course, which I love. I think I want to work on more of the medical side, like software applications or machinery because I think its quite interesting and it’s going to provide a lot of jobs for people as well."
Take the lead
"I’m part of Henna Society. I set that up myself in my first year with my friend who was in her last year. She was saying I’m thinking of setting up Henna Society and I'd wanted to learn Henna for a long time. I helped her set up the society, and basically we taught people how to do Henna. I learnt myself so I can do it now as well.
"We did loads of charity events and we collaborated with most of the societies on campus, so like everyone knew us. We don’t just do Henna, we can get involved with a lot of stuff.
"I think that year we won New Society of the Year because of that. I was running that (Henna Society) this year and I won my individual colours for that, and then the society won collaborative spirit award as well, it's pretty good."
Seize the opportunity
"I’m on the badminton team as well. That’s the thing that I love the most out of everything, I love badminton.
"The team run social sessions for students on campus and I used to go to those all the time last year. When the tryouts came around this year, I tried out and then they chose me.
"I’ve been playing for a year now on the team and I love it, it’s amazing, I love doing it. It’s so nice to be part of a team. It's awesome to play for them."
I feel like I’m the same but different at the same time. I think I’ve realised the potential in myself to do different things. It was always there, but I didn’t realise it.
this is where
...I break the stereotypes
Originally, I applied for Pharmacy. On results day I got in for Pharmacy in Leicester. But I didn’t want to do it because I did experience in it and I thought it was just boring. So I took a gap year and I was looking at why there was a shortage of jobs in Pharmacy, and it was because they were being taken over by machines and electronic dispensing and things like that.
I found that interesting and looked into it, and saw there’s this whole world out there with so much potential to help human beings. That was one of the reasons why I chose Computer Science. I just really enjoy it to be honest, I like the creative side of it and the mathematical side of it.
