Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
Overall SWOT Analysis (Personal + Portfolio) Exploration - Coggle Diagram
Overall SWOT Analysis (Personal + Portfolio) Exploration
Strengths
Strong written and verbal communication skills
Experience communicating in a professional context
With developer teammates
Written
Slack
Email
Jira
Code comments
Commit messages
Test descriptions
Change control documents
Spoken
Stand-up meetings
Online calls
In-person
With clients outside the company
Jira
Online calls
Email
University coursework and projects
Written
In a team
Y2 Group-Project
Pull request discussions
Test table
Code reviews
Videos
C++ experience
Managed environment
Unreal Engine 4
Final Year Project: Dyna-Mech
In development, and won't be finished within module period
Make in-progress entry in portfolio
Do dev-logs
On Twitter
On portfolio site (blog posts)
On in-progress portfolio entry
Would make it too cluttered
Unmanaged environment
COMP3016 Game: Bounding Box
Initial version already complete and demonstrable
Make portfolio entry for current version
Already identified clear avenues for future development
Avenues
Improve graphics
Lighting
Implement Blinn-Phong
Add different types of light
3 more items...
Shadows
Add GUI
Win and loss recognition
Menus
COMP3016 CW1
May not work as a portfolio piece
Started as template that I filled in to pass tests
Not visual
Considerable amount of other person's code
More of a toy program
Evidence of skills
Grads in Games C++ Test
LinkedIn certification
C++ Essential Training
Portfolio projects
OpenGL
COMP3016 Game: Bounding Box
3D first-person game
Uses OpenGL 4.5 Core profile
Supporting libraries
GLAD
GLFW
GLM
Wrote shaders
Used GLSL
COMP3015 Projects
No output yet
Both coursework submissions will focus on GLSL shader programming
Professional software development experience
14-month 2019/20 placement at GOSS Interactive
Worked as a backend developer
Also occasionally did front-end work
HTML
Razor pages
CSS
JavaScript
Custom ASP.NET based web application framework
C# with .NET
Part of a self-organising team
Manage and report own workload
Reported to a line manager
Had an assigned mentor who assisted me with tasks early in the placement
Worked across departments
Supported and consulted with creative and management departments
Role was client-facing
Handle communication with clients related to my tasks
Progress updates
On Jira
Via email
Drafted change control documents that describe work to be done on client servers and sites
Consulted with clients about their requests
C# experience
With .NET framework
Microsoft implementation
Mono (Unity)
Unity projects
AIN254 Game: Reflektor
Most polished and complex Unity project
PEC Project
Team-based project
Not on portfolio
AINT253 Projects
Illuminated Room
Working Late
Escape Room
Requires significant improvements
Breaks on restart
Clicking interface is imprecise
Not on portfolio
2019/20 Placement
Backend development using custom ASP.NET-based web framework
Vanilla C#
Razor pages
Debugging experience
On placement, routinely had to debug large applications built using custom framework
Used Visual Studio debugging tools
Stepping through
Breakpoints
Watches
Using print and logging statements to debug programs
Have used in most projects, university and placement
University projects probably not large enough to be considered "large codebases".
Source control experience
Used Git repos for most university projects
Hosted repos online
GitHub
Bitbucket
Using a GUI app (GitHub Desktop)
Using the command line
Used in a team for AIN254 project
Created standard practices for commit messages, pull requests, and code reviews
On placement, used SVN
Used TortoiseSVN GUI app
Used it in a team, so had to be conscious of other developers working in the repo
Occasionally needed to resolve merge conflicts
Moved work between branches, coordinating with colleagues
Deleted branches that were no longer needed
Created "tag" brancehs for releases
Agile Experience
At unversity
Used agile project managed approach for two projects
AINT254 PEC Project
Used Scrum-based Agile implementation in a team
Helped to draft and enforce Agile practices
At 2019/20 placement
Team very loosely followed Agile approach (client request > prototype > refine cycle)
Object-oriented programming experience
Almost all university projects been been OOP based
SOFT255 module was focused on OOP design and design patterns
Took exam with OOP questions and created OOP Java application for coursework
Unity and UE4, engines I have used, are both OOP-based
Extended and maintained web apps written OOP-based framework, including creating and modifying base and derived classes.
Experience with other languages
Java
University
Patient-management system built to spec, with object serialisation and Swing framework GUI
Used design patterns
Haven't used code in a while, so skills have dulled
Developed using test-driven development with JUnit framework
Used for one project and haven't used since
JavaScript
On 2019/20 placement
Small, simple front-end scripts
Interacted with HTML elements generated by backend code
A few backend scripts, with custom framework
Vanilla-style, i.e., not TypeScript or similar
Development tools experience
IDEs
Visual Studio 2019 Community
Used for most university projects
Used professional version during 2019/20 placement
NetBeans
Used for one-time Java project for SOFT255, not used since
Weaknesses
Maths skills
Slow to pick up on concepts
COMP3000, COMP3016, and COMP3015 projects are helping me learn vectors and matrices.
Difficulty with mental math
Can practice more
Khan Academy
Brilliiant
Strong 3D maths skills are emphasised by job ads
Linear Algebra
Trignometry
Geometry
Portfolio
Contains only university work
Doesn't evidence self-motivated or real interest in video games and software development
Add non-university projects
Game jam and hackathon entries
No time in module period to long competitions
1 - 2 days max
Can't do full 24-hour cycles due to living circumstances
Personal projects
C++ games
UE4
Unmanaged
C++ apps
Haven't developed it outside of university
No personal projects
Do more personal projects
Ideas
Low-level C++ app
3D game from scratch
DirectX
Vulkan
Lua app
Sparsely updated and no coherent theme among projects
No evidence of in-depth knowledge or interest in a particular area
Heavily skewed towards Unity
Unity projects
Interactive experiences
Illuminated Room
Working Late
Video games
Reflektor
Most polished Unity project
Demonstrates full design-develop-refine cycle
Not discussed on portfolio page
Apps
Plymouth Energy Community (PEC) Project
Evidences working to a client brief
Little evidence of unmanaged, general programming ability
Relevant projects
COMP3016 Coursework 2
3D game made with C++ and OpenGL
COMP3016 Coursework 1
FIle reader
Had a lot of starting code and clear direction, so not the best portfolio piece
Software engeering knowledge and skills
Design patterns
Have studied them, but no current knowledge
Refresh knowledge
Books
Design Patterns: Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software
Data structures
Familiar with static and dynamic arrays but nothing else
Learn
Books
Algorithms and Data Structures in Action
Data Structures and Program Design Using C++
Web
LeetCode
HackerRank
freeCodeCamp
LinkedIn Learning
Algorithms
No knowledge or skills
Learn
Books
Algorithms and Data Structures in Action
Grokking Algorithms
Algorithms in a Nutshell
Online
LeetCode
HackerRank
freeCodeCamp
LinkedIn Learning
Online presence
Not actively posting and engaging on Twitter or LinkedIn
Need a catalyst
Resuming development on an existing project
Log development
On Twitter and LinkedIn
Portfolio site blog posts
Do post on blog and share on Twitter and LinkedIn
Current projects
Log development
Final year project
Have portfolio website but not sure if it's good enough
Get feedback
From
Recruiters and related organisations
Grads in Games
Aardvark Swift
Amiqus
People in games dev
Jason Butler from Sponge
Who else
Find people at events
People with web development and design knowledge
People at GOSS, 2019/20 placment provider
Have not taken part in game jams, hackathons, or similar
Workload and living situation prohibits me taking part in 24-hour and competition longer than a couple of days
Find 2 - 3 day competitions
Inconsistent work patterns
Trying to work a bit every day
Set up daily quota
Problem-solving and critical thinking
No evidence for either
What would evidence this?
Opportunities
Abundant learning resources
Resources
freeCodeCamp
Data structures
Algorithms
LinkedIn Learning
C++
Data structures
Algorithms
Desgin patterns
Desgin patterns
Khan Academy
Practice maths hard skills
Linear algebra
Trigonometry
Geometry
HuimbleBundle e-book bundles
Data structures
Algorithms
C++
Can help upskill
Target areas highlighted in collated requirements
C++
Software engeering
Data structures
Algorithms
Design patterns
Maths
Grads in Games Practice C++ test
Created by game studio technical directors
Represents real industry requirements
Can help target development
Can measure progress towards reaching required levels in skills
COMP3015 module
Covers OpenGL, graphics techniques and effects
Can help with further developing COMP3016 3D OpenGL game
Add lighting
Add shadows
Add other visual effects
Runs concurrently with COMP3014
Final year project uses C++ and Unreal Engine 4
May result in high quality portfolio piece
Evidences requirement skills
Unreal Engine 4
C++
Could be a catalyst for developing online presence
Make development logs
Twitter
LinkedIn
Portfolio site blog posts
Not currently in online portfolio
Add in-progress entry
Threats
Degree is video gamesp-oriented
Not valued as highly by employeres
Minimum grade requirements are higher, i.e., first class minimum
Remote location plus pandemic
Cannot attend physical events
May make networking more difficult
Cannot take on non-remote roles
Multiple roles said relocation would be required at some point
When?
Workload
Three university modules
Very limited time
Probably cannot create any new portfolio pieces
Can developed maybe two projects at most
Cannot join long game jams (more than a 2 - 3 days)
Living conditions
Live with family
Cannot stay up for 24-hours to partake in game jams or hackathons
Jams need to run over multiple days