A Computer Science graduate who secured a dream role with Amazon has hailed Liverpool Hope University for giving him the tools to succeed in the tech industry.
Daniel Swarup, an international student from India, was offered a job as a software developer at the technology giant after impressing them over the course of a three-month internship during his final year at Hope.
The 21-year-old, who graduated with a first class degree, will work as a Software Development Engineer for one of the most influential companies in the world.
And the international student from India says his time at Hope was critical in gaining the knowledge and skills that have given him a head start in his career.
“During my internship, I was part of a software development team working on an internal HR tool,” he explains.
“I developed and prototyped the orchestrator, was involved in the testing and debugging of the tool and also collaborated with the other teams to ensure that the tool’s features were aligned with their requirements.
“The course [at Hope] prepared me to succeed in my placement by providing me with a solid foundation in various programming languages, software development principles, and algorithms.
“It also emphasised the importance of problem-solving and critical thinking and provided me with an understanding of data analysis and machine learning, which was essential for the projects that I worked on.”
Daniel cites his dissertation as the highlight of his studies as it allowed him to work with Natural Language Processing – a subfield of artificial intelligence which helps machines process and understand human language to perform repetitive tasks.
However, his time at Hope serves as an example of how life beyond the classroom can have such a positive impact on a graduate’s career.
Having volunteered to lead a technical interview preparation course for his fellow students, Daniel found his efforts rewarded during the rigorous, multi-stage interview process for his internship.
“To prepare for the technical interviews, I practised coding problems and reviewed the technical skills I had acquired during my studies,” he added.
“I also taught a technical interview preparation course for undergraduates and masters students at Hope, which helped me answer questions and present confidently [at my own interview].”
Brett Drury, Lecturer in Maths, Computer Science and Engineering and Daniel’s dissertation supervisor, added: “I had the pleasure of supervising and teaching Daniel in his last year at Hope, and it was quite clear that he was a hard-working and intelligent student.
“He was also a leader as he helped students prepare for technical interviews, and this included postgraduate students.
“His work was beyond what was expected for an undergraduate student and he fully deserves his position at Amazon.”