Jamie Holt

My fascination and passion for computer science has grown during my teenage years as I viewed the vast technological changes that are happening in the world around us. People used to joke about flying cars and although we aren’t quite there yet, the advances in transport have been astronomical. 

I am also intrigued by space travel and am fascinated by Elon Musk’s view that we could maybe live on another planet to save using up our earth’s resources. Living in a sustainable world has never been more urgent and important than what is today and I want to play my part in saving our planet. 

I am deeply aware of the issues around security, hacking, phishing and fraudulent activity. Cyber security is the area I want to pursue so that humans can enjoy and use computers without the constant worry of being defrauded. 

I would like an apprenticeship where I gain a degree in software engineering or digital and technology solutions. With an apprenticeship I will gain recognised qualifications as well as gaining experience in the workplace. I hope to acquire the skills that will enable me to bring forth new ideas and solutions for software development and security. This excites me and being able to implement that software to benefit businesses and help them become more efficient will be rewarding and give me a sense of achievement. 

I decided to study Computer Science, Maths and Physics at A-Level as I believe these three subjects combined will help me achieve my career goal to be a software engineer.  

One of my favourite hobbies is tennis which I play regularly at my local club. I also attended a two day course to become a Tennis Coach Apprentice. This enables me to work at the club coaching under 10s with their tennis skills.  This includes tennis drills, playing games and matches. This role requires me to work well with children, give clear and concise instructions and also to be friendly and approachable at the same time. This shows I have leadership skills and can also work as part of a team. I played rugby for a few years which also shows my team playing skills along with resolve and resilience.

During the pandemic I helped the local food bank in delivering leaflets and food parcels. This shows I am a kind and caring person. I am also a quick learner, conscientious and enjoy a challenge. 

In July 2021 I started some training in the Dominion Centre, Erith. I ordered a toolkit to take apart gadgets such as phones, laptops and tablets. The shop owner gave me some work to do at home and practice on. We had an old laptop at home as well so I took that apart and put it back together again. 

I then decided I would like to build my own PC. I used all my savings to purchase the equipment. I was a bit worried about doing this as I had never done this before and I had spent a lot of money.  I learned most of how to do this by watching videos on You Tube and some advice from a friend. Thankfully after a couple of initial problems, it worked, and I have been using it ever since. 

In February 2022 I started training in another phone shop. I attend every Sunday for about three hours. Malik, the shop owner, oversees me fixing various gadgets. When I have enough experience, I hope to undertake paid work in one of the many phone shops.

In July 2022 I undertook a weeks work experience at Embridge Consulting Limited which is a digital transformation agency. Whilst at this placement I learned how to use Outlook by sending professional emails. I also used Excel for data entry and Word for letter writing. I carried out research for one of the consultants in Professional Services and captured what I learned in a Powerpoint presentation. I met with another consultant in the Professional Services division where I documented what is needed to work in this department. I did the same for Product Development. I also created an organigramme for both of these divisions. They also discussed interview prep with me. I carried out practical work such as shredding and filing. I shadowed one of the consultants and observed their work.  I also sat in with the sales and marketing team.

I decided to study Computer Science, Maths and Physics at A-Level as I believe these three subjects combined will help me achieve my career goal to be a software engineer.  During lockdown when I studied remotely, I went through the revision books of each of these three subjects in full (in fact I did this for all my GCSE subjects) and also a whole set of 64 computer science revision cards answering all the questions. I believe this shows my resilience and determination to succeed in my exams in very uncertain and unpredictable times. This is also shown by my high GCSE grades.  

My predicted grades for A level are:

Computer Science A*
Maths A
Physics A