Job Profile - Dave Chatting

University/College: University of Birmingham Age: 29 Course: Computer Science and Software Engineering

Dave started out as an apprentice and now works at BT’s Broadband Applications Research Centre. His current project involved analysing people’s reactions to football matches in order to develop computer applications capable of automatically selecting highlights of the games.

When you first joined BT through the company’s Apprenticeship Scheme, did you think straight away “this is what I want to do”?
Yes! I started by work experience with BT as well, and there has definitely been a change of focus over my time here. When I first came as a 16-year-old, I wanted to do a lot of electronics and was less interested in software. Over time, however, I ended up doing much more work with software and programming and got more interested in those kinds of things, such as different computing devices, especially mobile ones, where you are not fixed with the concept of a screen, keyboard and mouse.

Did you get a scholarship to go to university straight after you finished your apprenticeship?
A little over a year later I started at BT (in 1993), finished my apprenticeship in 1996 and started my degree in 1997. By then I knew pretty much what I wanted to do, but a lot has changed since then. I got a lot more interested in the psychological side of things, in particular cognitive psychology, which covers things such as how people remember things, how they recognise things… I’ve done quite a lot of work in looking at how people recognise faces and how we can apply those techniques back into computing, and what can we learn from those other disciplines. There’s a lot of fascinating things that go on outside what we do, and we try to apply these to the problems we have.

You started through work experience and then went on to do formal training. Were those equally important to you?
My work experience lasted literally for two weeks, so that was very short, but my apprenticeship – in practice a longer work experience period – gave me a sound grounding of things. I wouldn’t say this is the only way to do these things, that’s the way I did it.

Did your university training equip you with tools you think you wouldn’t have otherwise?
Oh yes, certainly. But I think they [apprenticeship and university] worked quite nicely together – I had some practical experiences in software engineering, and also programming and working with people to develop programmes and prototypes, but I guess the degree gave me a much sounder theoretical background, and I think that’s pretty important in the work I do now.

Would you recommend the apprenticeship route to others?
I wouldn’t discourage it at all, but I think it would really much depend on the person.

What are the differences between an apprenticeship and a degree, and who do you think is more suited to each of them?
If people are keen to get in there and start doing things really quickly, then I think an apprenticeship scheme is a really good way to do that. I got exposed to so many things quite early in my career by doing that, and I guess that’s one of the main benefits of following this route. It is essentially a long work experience, so if people are unsure of things to a certain extent and want to try things out, there is still opportunity to assess if this is the area for you. There is an academic aspect to it as well: is it the academic side of things that really interest you or do you want to go in and do something more practical? I mixed the two, starting with the practice and ending with a degree to give me the academic training.

What is the best thing about your job?
It’s very stimulating to have an idea on the street, make the prototype to see how it works and following through to the point where other people are interacting with it. Seeing the whole process through, from the original idea to a mature, useful product, is great.

And what is the worst thing?
There are always a lot of forms to be filled and meetings to be attended – I’d rather not have to deal with so much bureaucracy.

What do you see yourself doing ten years from now?
I am quite interested in the design side of things, and in how you mix all of these disciplines, such as computing and psychology, together, what can you do with them. I’m sure that in ten years’ time there will be things no-one can even predict, as you can see by looking ten years back. That’s the good thing about being in this industry for so long: you can see things that were very innovative or even unthought-of becoming part of everyday life.

Outside of work, what do you like to do?
I’m a football fan and enjoy going to matches, although I haven’t been to many recently. I am also interested in the social side of things, such as meeting friends and travelling.

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