For the University, August is a month of change as it signifies the beginning of a new academic year. For the IS LTW Website & Communications team, as well as other units, it brings another kind of change as well.

Continuing for a third year, the team provides a work placement for a Napier University student. The beginning of August is the time for the “old guard” to say farewell to go back to academic duties, while the “new blood” comes in to face the challenge of a real-life working environment.

Alex Stewart, our intern for the last academic year, concluded his year long placement with very successful results. After his induction was complete, and the overwhelming feeling of having to support hundreds of users, who have tens of thousands of published pages, sunk in, Alex built on his existing skills to bring value in supporting both Polopoly and EdWeb, as well as being involved in internal development projects.

Furthermore, after his Drupal training was complete, Alex showed consistency in testing and giving feedback for new EdWeb functionality, while researching other areas of subjects from responsive widget templates to applying sub-themes to an EdWeb distribution website instance. Away from the desk and his technical duties, Alex was managing the set-up of the Morae software that we use to record user testing sessions, while making it available to monitor from a distance. Finally, he very quickly became a member of the team and he will certainly be missed, both in the office and during social outings.

Enter our new intern, Wandile Sobopha. Wandile is studying at Napier University as well and has joined our team with the same ambition previous students have, bringing energy and freshness. His interest in web development, as well as the will to learn, is a genuine guarantee for success.

Bye Alex, welcome Wandile.