Student James Driscoll Completes Week of Work Experience at Somerset Web Services

This week it has been our pleasure of having Chard-based student James Driscoll, 15, join the team for work experience. James asked to spend a week with us because of a keen interest in IT and a desire to experience an office-based work environment.

As he was completing his final day with us, James had the following comments about his week here:

“The week begun with learning the basics of the main coding languages used in web design: HTML, CSS and PHP. This new found knowledge was used to build simplistic web pages as a proof of concept. The knowledge gained on Monday was vast. From simple elements like displaying text to more complex formatting of the text to make the site easier on the eyes of the user and the construction of tables. I learnt the basics of PHP on Tuesday, the basics of three languages in one and a half days. PHP was the closest of the three languages to the one that I am currently studying at school; python. Great language as long as what you want to produce is mainly text based. The similarity of the languages allowed me to grasp this one the easiest. By Tuesday lunchtime I had learnt the basics of three languages.

The next step in my brief stint at Somerset Web Services was to learn how to use a CMS (Content management System). This knowledge would make building websites a lot easier. WordPress was the CMS in question. This is one of the most well known systems around, with thousands of plugins the opportunities with WordPress are endless. With the Themes that are available to the developers they can broaden their design capabilities and create web pages that look extremely professional in a fraction of the time that it would take to hard code a website by hand.

The knowledge that I have gained from this week with Somerset Web Services has allowed me to broaden my horizons and possibilities for the future, the knowledge I have gained is priceless. Without an insight like the one that I have gained from this week I may have never considered web development as a career but, now it is a very real possibility.”

Lead Developer Chris Green had the following comments:

“I have to say we’ve been highly impressed with James this week. During his time here he has listened and taken in all that we’ve thrown at him. We have been astounded by how quickly he has picked up everything. When he arrived on Monday he did so with virtually no existing knowledge of how to build a website – by Thursday he was working alongside the team and aiding us as we built customers’ websites. He has maintained a high level of professionalism throughout the week and was able to effortlessly feel like a member of the team, including joining in with the office banter! We all enjoyed his company and wish him the best of luck in his future career.”