Ryan Mc Donald – BSc in Software Development

Name: Ryan Mc Donald

From: Monaghan

School: Largy College, Clones

Current Job: Software Engineer with Combilift, Monaghan

Problem solving and dealing with challenges was something I always enjoyed growing up. I wanted to incorporate this into my future career which led me to look into software development. I completed two years in Monaghan Institute, graduating with a Level 6 in Software Development before gaining a place on the Software Development degree at ATU Sligo.

Whilst studying in ATU Sligo, I really enjoyed the modules as they provided me with an insight into all aspects of software development. As I wasn’t fully sure what area of development I wanted to focus in on, being exposed to all the fundamentals allowed me to experience it as a whole and give me the skills that are required in the industry.

I also really enjoyed working on projects and assignments as you get a practical approach to what you learn in class. Being content and having a sense of accomplishment in building software adds to the overall enjoyment of the degree.

In the Web Development module I got to build web applications from scratch and got to add my own design to them. I also enjoyed cloud development as it is constantly changing everyday with new technologies. We got to spin up cloud architecture using AWS which was very interesting to see how it all worked.

Throughout my studies I learned teamwork skills which are hugely important with group projects and especially in industry. Being able to work together as a team will increase the success of a task or project. Problem solving skills are also very beneficial when problems arise during the build of an application, the ability to break it down and find what is causing the issue will help in the completion of the task.

Upon completing my Level 7 degree in Software Development, I secured a role as a software engineer with Combilift in Monaghan. My day to day job includes developing software to help with the automation of current manual daily tasks.

To new students, I would say take a look at working on personal projects when you can, using as many different languages as these can be applied to future assignments in university as well as tasks you undertake in future roles. I would also keep up to date with the latest technologies as software development is constantly expanding and growing.

When it comes to ATU Sligo, I really liked how simple the process of finding everything was. In the early days this can be quite daunting. This helped a lot with taking the stress off starting in university.

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