I finished work today. I’ve had 13 weeks at Stickyeyes, which has been full of ups and downs (but mostly ups) and I have to say it’s been a fantastic experience. I finished today - completed all my projects, am happy with the standard of (a lot of!) my code (if any of my co-workers are reading this I’ll probably be laughed at right now…) and have tied up a lot of loose ends in stuff I did when I started. The day was interspersed quite nicely with a liquid lunch… which probably put a bit of a healthy buzz around the rest of it!

I’m looking forward to being able to work on my own code again. Working has given me a bit of an appreciation for programming in .NET, I’ve got a lot of PHP I’d still like to learn, and it’s on the cards to start picking up Ruby On Rails fairly soon. Fitting so many languages around learning new ones at university will be a challenge, but hopefully I’ll have a little more time to fit personal projects around university than I have around full-time work. The only things I’ve really had time to do are to get my own VPS (loving being with Slicehost) and setup a landing page for Spen Valley Securities - but I’ve got a list a mile long of things I’d like to do… bits of code, proof-of-concepts, sorting out all my photos, etc.

I’ve got a week off before I start university. I head to Trevelyan College at Durham University a week tomorrow, and barring the inevitable drinking/meeting people/getting lost that will take place, the lectures (and fun, hopefully) will start the week after. According to various colleagues at work it’s possible to have a great time and get a first - although strangely no-one seems to be able to offer up any examples of people who’ve done it!

I’m going to find some time to blog this week in between packing and tying up the loose ends - but I’m a week away from a fairly major change, so if I’m ever going to blog now will be the time.

It’s been a while since I’ve blogged properly. With all the best intentions, it often falls by the wayside - just as I knew it would when I started! Here’s a short update, at least…

I got AAB in Computing, Law and Music Technology respectively in my A Levels. I’m heading off to Durham University, which was my first choice, to study Software Engineering at Trevelyan College. I’ve been chatting to people who are going and I’m really looking forward to it. We’re one of the later universities to start, many people seem to have gone or be leaving already.

My life has settled into a hub of rotating around my job, planning for university, and music. It comes at the expense of some things I’m missing right now - I haven’t read a book in weeks, or touched my piano much, but I’m caught up in the middle of a fast-paced job in a fast-paced industry that’s my main hobby too.

Work has been one of the most intense and rewarding things I’ve done in a long time. I’ve learnt a lot and made some great friends, and honestly worked on projects where I’m proud of the outcome. It’s the motivation that’s been missing from education - not a monetary gain, but the realisation that something you’ve done is being used, that whatever the bugs and issues with a piece of code it actually has a raison d’être… which in turn seems to give development itself a purpose.

It’s going to be a pretty crazy few weeks (not like the last few haven’t been akin to some sort of rollercoaster) getting ready to leave, but this is the next challenge. It’s been a long seven years, and for the first time in memory I’m starting to think I’m making something of myself. This is a temporary position; a stepping stone, but the main purpose is to reach the “end goal”. That’s quite a while away.

For now, the purpose is getting as much out of this as I can, and getting ready for the next adventure.