Computer Science Student Learning by Building
Learning by building something practical.
I’m Alessandro, a Computer Science student at the University of Hull. I’m using a Service Monitor as a practical learning project while preparing for a year-in-industry placement beginning in summer 2027.
01 / About
Learning with purpose.
I’ve completed my first year of BSc Computer Science at the University of Hull and will begin my second year in September 2026. I’m currently strengthening my programming foundations and learning more about object-oriented programming and software design.
I learn best by building practical systems and understanding how their parts work together. I’m particularly interested in software engineering, DevOps, platform engineering and reliable systems, and I’m preparing to apply for year-in-industry placements beginning in summer 2027.
- University
- University of Hull
- Degree
- BSc Computer Science
- Current focus
- Programming foundations
- Main project
- Service Monitor
- Placement target
- Summer 2027
- Location
- United Kingdom
02 / Current project
Service Monitor
A C# console application that checks the availability of multiple websites.
It sends an HTTP request to each website, reports whether the response is successful or unsuccessful, handles connection failures without crashing and measures how long each request takes.
Next three months
Planned development.
I aim to develop Service Monitor gradually while improving my programming and software-development skills.
- Check multiple websites automatically
- Record HTTP status codes and response times
- Handle connection failures and timeouts
- Store previous check results
- Calculate basic uptime statistics
- Detect outages and create incidents
- Mark incidents as resolved when a service recovers
- Display a simple summary of service health
Follow the project
See the current code and follow its development.
03 / Leadership
Leadership beyond code.
Captain — University of Hull Men’s Football 3rd Team
Alongside my degree, I captain the University of Hull Men’s Football 3rd Team. The role has strengthened my communication, accountability and ability to support a team towards shared goals.
- Communicating with teammates
- Setting standards
- Taking responsibility
- Supporting team members
- Remaining composed under pressure
- Creating a positive team environment
- Representing the team
Current toolkit
Focused foundations.
- C#
- Object-oriented programming
- Git
- JetBrains Rider
I’m deliberately keeping my technical toolkit focused. I’ll add technologies when I have used them meaningfully and can demonstrate them through the Service Monitor project.
Placement direction
Looking towards 2027.
I’m preparing to apply for year-in-industry opportunities beginning in summer 2027. I’m particularly interested in roles where I can continue developing as a software engineer while learning more about DevOps, platform engineering and reliable systems.
An environment where I can learn through
- Practical software development
- Mentoring
- Team collaboration
- Exposure to production systems
- Opportunities to learn