Things I Did Well
No. 5 - I went to the university for the right reasons
Hull is a wonderful place
I think it would be careless for someone to commit the next 3+ years of their life to a place without checking it out first. I made sure to check where I wanted to go and see if that place would work well with me. The University of Hull has a great campus, a great set of labs to work in, some brilliant lecturers and great colleagues to study with. Not everyone is so lucky to have all these things. I know Hull respects the goals of someone like myself and enables a lot of creativity in my work. It has the classic solid teaching background but the modern feel of keeping up with the latest technological support and industry trends. It also doesn't feel like they included games development to rip you off.
No. 4 - I pursued interests and societies
All people I wouldn't know unless I looked for friends
University is as much of a personal and social development experience as an academic one. Meeting people through more routes than just coursework and lectures is essential. Through this I met people in the union boxing club, the computer society, the wonderful people at Platform and C4Di. I learned a lot of things that couldn't apply directly to my coursework but gave me further insight into technology as a whole. Plus meeting people and discussing ideas is one of the greatest free things you can get. I was always kept busy in the greatest way. Doing only university work would have been a waste of the year.
No. 3 - I studied smarter
Seeking new ways to learn a concept
The old age concept of writing what is being spoken to you is not only incredibly archaic but just almost completely useless. Verbal communication and looking at visual explanations of a concept will always be better. In lectures it is better to just take the hour to listen to the lecturer and ask questions when you have them. Engage with them as people rather than just some guy who goes through slides. You can always read lecture slides after and what you find online through a decent YouTube or Google search will give you better ways to learn than what a piece of paper can. It's sad that many students rely on old methods to learn. If I need a book I just read a pdf too which I can access anywhere and don't have to worry about book prices or late hand in dates. Any system that involves paper is in need of change.
No. 2 - I didn't care if my result doesn't affect my final grade
I kept my physical and Google calendar both up to date
One thing a lot of students will tell you is that what you do in your first year doesn't matter. I really cannot disagree more. What I learned in my first year established the foundation of what I am learning and doing in my second year. If I managed to just barely get through last year then this year would slowly fall apart for me. Doing better next time is never a good excuse for slacking off right now because putting hard work in is what enables you to learn. I got a first class grade for my first year and I'm proud of that. I'm going to keep that standard up for this year too and get a first class grade for my degree. I will do it because I should and I can.
No. 1 - GameDev, GameDev, GameDev
Oculus game dev magic
I'm interested in the games industry specifically but really this could apply to anyone. Putting in the effort to make games in my own time at hackathons, game jams and just in all-nighter lab sessions taught me so much about being a better and faster programmer. I'd recommend gamedev to anyone as a programming exercise. Making a game forces you to learn about important concepts that are core to object oriented programming. One of my strongest subjects was programming which could have easily been my weakest if I didn't take the time to enjoy making games.
Things I Didn't Do So Well
No. 5 - Didn't treat my diet seriously
A sight I saw too much
University life gives a lot more freedoms than life before. One of those freedoms is the ability to choose whatever you want to eat without warning or guidance. Unfortunately through I didn't treat that responsibly. On top of the classic student takeway meals after a night out or through an all nighter session I didn't keep a very decent set of food I would fill the fridge and cupboards with. Right now this is still something I haven't sorted out properly but I think it is worth the time to plan a healthy diet. It doesn't need to be something to lose weight but just anything to not gain weight and stay fit and healthy would be good enough.
No. 4 - Almost no exercise
Taking a lift rather than walking up stairs, as usual
This stacks pretty badly with the previous point. Doing barely any exercise for a year once more hasn't been one of my brightest ideas. I hope that admitting this will push me to do something. Last year my only physical activity was boxing but 1-2 hours a week isn't good enough. On top of that some cardio is a good way to keep fit enough. Right now though I don't feel 22 which is bad. This is possibly one of the hardest things to solve.
No. 3 - Reckless with my sleeping pattern
Needed to do more sleep
I might have successfully avoided wasting a lot of my nights with just playing video games. In fact that was almost one of the things I considered adding to the other list but then I don't think just having restraint is an achievement. Instead though I did think nothing of my all night sessions in the labs with almost no sleep for 36 hours around April this year. I did a lot of work and stayed awake thanks to coffee but I don't think this is a good long term plan and only should be done if I need to. Instead, I should just set a very consistent pattern of doing work rather than huge stretches with big gaps. I plan to do more work this year but with much less of a loss of sleeping normally.
No. 2 - Passed on a lot of social opportunities
Another night alone then
While I did join the computer society and boxing club I didn't really interact with anything else the university union had to offer. There are a lot of fantastic groups out there I still haven't met and I hope over the course of this year I can fix that. When I first started university I was at first daunted by all the new people but I didn't keep it up with meeting new people and I'd hate to ever settle for a set group of people for the next 3 years. I also said no to a lot of nights out with my housemates. That's not something you can undo.
No. 1 - Super careless with money
This meal alone set me back £15+ (although it was amazing)
I'm lucky enough to get the maximum loan and grant outside of London and during my first year I also got a decent bursary to go with it. Even with that though I struggled financially which is entirely my own fault. I don't regret spending as much as did in January which was when I had the very rare time to meet a friend who had came all the way from Argentina. I had essentially lived in London for a week and travelled a lot of the UK in a few days. There were so many dumb purchases I made though and more importantly I didn't think about what money I would have until my next loan date. I'm going for a part time job this year but I will only start spending a lot of money until I have that.
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