While studying Computer Science at University of Hertfordshire, one day each week was working at a local pharmacy. It involved opening and closing the shop, assisting and serving customers, handing out prescriptions, putting out stock and keeping the shop clean and tidy.

Over the course of this year I had roles in several different areas:1). Broadcast Contributions. We invited universities to take part in this project, where they would purchase equipment enabling them take part in interviews from their campus, and they would also allow nearby experts to also use the equipment.2). Student Streaming Servers. There were streaming servers available for free for use by student television and radio stations. My roles included providing technical help to students trying to make use of the servers, marketing the facility (presentations/emails) so more stations were aware of this, and reporting any issues found. I also had to keep track of usage statistics, and generated a report from those stats.3). Network Performing Arts Production Workshop. During my placement, Jisc hosted the Network Performing Arts Production Workshop at the Royal College of Music. This is an international event, which changes location each year, and is focussed on hardware and software which can enable use of the network in a more creative manner. For example, we had half a quartet in London, and they were able to play simultaneously with the other half of the quartet at the Royal Danish Academy of Music.4). Testing Vscene. This is a videoconference software in development by Jisc. I tested various bugs, fixes, and features on test servers to make sure it was working as expected, before the live servers were updated.5). Streaming Service. A fully fledged streaming service was in early development stages, and I was involved in some early research around the area, overseeing focus groups, and summarising the results.6). Other general tasks. I was also asked to complete other relevant tasks as required. One example included taking raw video footage of a series of presentations at a conference, and chopping it up into individual presentations with simple title screen at the beginning to introduce the video.

Initially hired as a Christmas Temp. I was kept on due to my good work ethic.I started working in Argos stockroom, collecting items ordered for customers. This also included having a good knowledge of the where everything was in the stockroom, keeping it neat and organised, as well as being able to demonstrate to customers how each product worked, and being able to answer any queries.After this I moved on to sorting out the deliveries. This involved helping the lorry driver reverse into the bay, taking the cages from the lorry and ensuring that everything that was expected had arrived, and then efficiently sorting through the items to get them on the shelves and available to be sold as quickly as possible.I returned to work here during the summer of 2012 as well, when I was able to return home for a few months in between years 1 and 2 of study at University of Derby.

I worked weekends here while studying for my A-levels.The job involved selling chocolate, operating the register and sometimes cashing-up. It was also necessary to be aware of when chocolates were nearing their "best before dates" and keeping the store front neat. Stockroom organisation and dealing with deliveries as well as taking part in stock counts were all also required duties.Finally, special care was needed for some of the more personal touches involved in working in a premium gift shop, such as being able to neatly, yet quickly, gift-wrap boxes and use icing to decorate models as a client desired.

I was hired to teach bass guitar. This was for all ages and skills, ranging from a 10 year old who had never played any instrument before, to teenagers studying for their grade 5 exams, and older men who had learnt decades ago and wanted to revisit their hobby later in life. This meant being able to alter my teaching style as was appropriate for each student. 2 students were taught at once in each session (of just over an hour), and there were 4 sessions on the night I taught each week.The company operated by hiring a big hall and having many teachers and student learning and practising together at once, with many different instruments; drums, guitars and bass guitar. Each week a different classic rock song was learned by all teachers and students, and each lesson culminated in a 10-15 jam of the song.Worksheets were supplied by the employer (Strum & Drum Music School) to complete each week as well the song.