Amber Botting

Amber graduated from Leeds in 2023 and, having secured a graduate position in her final year, is currently employed as a digital graduate at Stantec - an environmental engineering consultancy.
She explains that the “sole focus for my career is to work for a company that is aiding the environment. My future path is built on flexibility and adaptability, with a moral theme.”

The sole focus for my career is to work for a company that is aiding the environment.

Why choose Leeds?

The choice of optional modules available on the course, compared to other Russell Group universities, was hugely appealing to Amber. Although some modules were compulsory, she felt there was enough scope to also choose topics that personally interested her too.
The Open Day was also a big deciding factor for Amber in choosing Leeds. She was given the opportunity to get some hands-on experience with robotics, an area that particularly interested her, and also liked that potential students were trusted with coding experience on the day.

Course highlights

Amber liked how her degree was coursework-focussed over exams when it came to assessment, saying “I believe that knowing a subject is great and all, but doing a subject is very different.” Although she did take more theory-based topics in her fourth year, Amber enjoyed how much hands-on experience was on offer throughout her degree: “The hands-on experience to learn all manner of coding languages, to see how graphics work, to see how websites can be built, to understand mathematical programs applied on real data, machine learning algorithms in real time – all of that was definitely the best part.”

Knowing a subject is great and all, but doing a subject is very different.

Amber also flags that the opening of the Sir William Henry Bragg Building in 2022 – a new £96 million development on campus - was a great plus to her studies as it created a sense of belonging in the School of Computer Science.
Amber relates that the CV and interview advice she received from Careers Support was key as it helped her to get her placement, graduate job and two internships. She notes that the internships were unfortunately cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but job offers were still received. 

Exciting projects

Alongside studying, Amber was a Student Representative, representing the University of Leeds at STEM fairs, speaking for the Careers Team after her placement, and acting as a voice for the study body during the COVID-19 pandemic. During the pandemic, Amber had regular meetings with lecturers, advocated for coursework adjustments and helped support students with study groups and resource suggestions. Although proud of her academic successes, Amber relates that these are the stories she likes to tell people about her time at university as she feels like she managed to help change something for the better, explaining “That is why I’m now a registered Mental Health First Aider at my work, and continue to support others in my career.”

I’m now a registered Mental Health First Aider at my work, and continue to support others in my career.

In terms of interesting projects at her current job, Amber is currently recalculating the water demand for an entire country using statistical investigation of multifactor predictions, which she explains is “a fancy way of saying we’re considering more details than just the average to figure out the total consumption of water”!

Career-supporting experiences

Amber cites her placement year as being invaluable to her career, explaining that “I got experience under my belt about what pay is like, how to manage a job and what basic training looks like. It got me an initial pay increase when I was offered my full-time job at Stantec and made me stand out compared to other starting graduates, as I knew how to use the system and what expectations were on me.”

(my placement year) made me stand out compared to other starting graduates, as I knew how to use the system and what expectations were on me.

Words of advice to prospective students

To students thinking about studying Computer Science BSc at Leeds, Amber would say “Computer Science is an important part of modern-day life, and you can apply what you have to much more than just the things you study. Give modules that you might not like a go, some of the best were ones I thought I wouldn’t like. Societies are optional but find friends that you can talk with - explaining code and ideas is the best way to learn. Finally, I highly suggest taking a placement year or internship over summer!