Several different things have happened since my last entry. I have received a few rejection letters for my summer placement (which I haven’t found yet, but remain hopeful!) and developed a couple of interesting Android applications, including my third year project. As I should have mentioned previously a big chunk of your third year will be spent on working on a project, which you may have chosen from a list of “possible options” or from your creativity.

I am currently developing an Android application, called Pyso, whose aim is to track “the friends” you have on this network 24/7 and show their location on a Google Map. It has been quite challenging, because it was my first Android application, my first backend infrastructure and my first RESTful API. That’s why, from my point of view, this project has been one of the most interesting things I have done in the past three years, since I was able to choose what I wanted to do and learn the things I needed in the way I planned to.

The project uses a simple client-server architecture, where the client is a native Android application and the server, which runs on Amazon EC2, is developed using Django, a Python Web Framework. The first few marks you’ll receive will come from a “Seminar”, which is something close to a “pitch” you give to two markers. It’s a simple 20 minutes presentation, where you have to underline what your project is, why you are doing it, what you have done and what you are planning to do in order to finish it.

My seminar was pretty straightforward, given the extensive oral communication skills I have developed last year thanks to GreatPreneurs :), that’s why I got a nice first. At the moment, I have got a few things done, including a “Friendship” system (in the Facebook way) and a nice way to communicate with the server. My next few challenges will be in determining the frequency of Location Updates I can receive without breaking the phone battery.

As the deadline approaches (mid-March), I will keep you updated, even with a few screenshots which I am not able to provide now.

ps: I am interviewing at Google next month! ehheheheheheh 😉

The time of the year where I have to choose the course units for the upcoming academic year has come. For a MEng student in Computer Science, the third year is probably the most relevant in the four years period you are going to spend in Manchester. While the first year doesn’t affect your final grade at all, the second is worth 12.5%, which is still a bit irrelevant compared to the other 87.5%.

On the other hand, the third year is worth more than 50% of your final grade. The main focus is on the third year project, which is really close to what a dissertation is, but with a strong technical side, based on what you have built during the year. That’s why this project occupies 40 credits. The compulsory list of course units, apart from the third year project, includes two finance/management based units from the business school.

In this way, there are 60 credits of compulsory course units and 60 of optional units. As in the second year, I have chosen my optional units at the beginning of August with the aim to “try” to follow what I have liked in the past. That’s why I have opted for:

– COMP38120 – Documents, Services and Data on the Web, which is a two semesters course.
– COMP38411 – Cryptography and Network Security, a course without any coursework (Wooooop!)
– COMP37111 – Advanced Computer Graphics
– COMP37212 – Computer Vision
– COMP33512 – User Experience

These courses will enable me to complete the Graphics themes, which contains 3 course units, the distributed systems one and also Interactive Systems Design, which has one course unit, User Experience. My personal advice is not to choose a course units just because the name sounds “cool”. I have done that mistake in the past, it turns out that cool things are really hard! 😀

I had the chance to interview Hector Kolonas a couple week ago. He attended the University of Manchester and got a degree in CS. I guess many of you might be interested in his entrepreneurial journey. The interview was firstly published here.

Hector Kolonas is the Founder of Desk&Co, a company whose aim is to give entrepreneurs and businesses the place, and the space, to grow and to succeed.

Who are you?

I’m one of those guys who’s always been drawn towards entrepreneurship somehow. My ‘first business’ was selling bespoke mothers day cards to kids at my brothers nursery school at the age of 6. When I was 13 I fell in love with how you could reach people around the world through something as simple as HTML. And it was all there for me to learn, for free, just by clicking ‘view source’ in that ‘hidden menu’. It wasn’t long before I began funding my online experiments, through providing online advice or services to businesses.

How many businesses have you founded?

I mostly build ideas into prototypes before evaluating if they’d have a chance to become sustainable businesses. By doing so I find myself with more projects and domains than I can always remember off the top of my head. I have 2 established businesses with my third, Desk&Co, on route to be spinning out into an incorporated entity at some stage in 2014. The previous two include an online magazine in Cyprus and a company that builds bespoke marketing platforms for advertising agencies.

Can you explain to us what DeskandCo is about in 140 characters?

We give entrepreneurs the place and space to grow and succeed. Affordable desks, services and products through a network of partners.

How did you come up with the idea behind DeskandCo?

When I launched my first commercial website at 17 I saw how hard it was for first-time entrepreneurs to get access to top-quality services, products and partnerships. I promised myself back then, that one day I’d be wealthy enough to help other early-stage entrepreneurs have a fighting chance. Whilst pre-emptively avoiding some emergency PR situation for clients in Cyprus after the bank freeze in March, I realised I could already start helping entrepreneurs, and the local start-up ecosystem.

The mission became crystal clear, I could help empower ecosystems one desk at a time.

Is there anything that keeps you awake at night in order to work on your startups? Where do you find your motivation?

Entrepreneurs are cut of a different cloth. We love solving problems, and seeing the results turn into value down the line. I find my motivation from two main sources. Making the people that support and believe in me proud is the first. The child-like smile I get when I walk past someone who is happily using something we’ve released is a close second.

You graduated from the University of Manchester, the city where we are based. How useful was the university in helping you to achieve what you have?

To avoid going down a long list of what I disliked about how universities in the UK treat and teach entrepreneurship, I’ll instead focus on the positives. The University of Manchester gave me access to an international network of students, and the time to try new things. I’m not sure how many prototypes I launched during my ‘reading’ weeks at the uni, but being able to do so whilst being a student made it possible to fail softly without having to panic about the ‘what if it doesn’t work’ whilst building them up.

Does an entrepreneur need to be technical in order to found a tech startup?

I don’t believe that. So long as they can take the time to understand the basics. That being said, some great technology was developed by people who didn’t see the boundaries or restrictions us ‘techies’ might see. Business, thankfully isn’t all 1s and 0s, and thus neither are tech startups.

What do you think about the Manchester startup scene and how would you compare it to the Cyprus’ one?

The Mancunian startup scene is growing nicely, with some really great products and services being developed here. There’s also a lot of interesting people pushing the scene, calling for the attention of both the government and investors alike. In Cyprus the scene is very young, but I see it growing rapidly due to the unfortunate decline of the job market.

The main difference between the two markets is that in Manchester, a few startups have found actual pain-points to cure, but in Cyprus we’re still mostly developing ‘local-solution’ concepts. (of course I generalise and mean no offence to startups like Avocarrot and Funifi)

What’s the best city for startups in Europe and why?

Ignoring London, Tel Aviv and Berlin are the best places. I’m also seeing a lot of movement in Athens, Barcelona, and most recently in Copenhagen. All three are taking measures to unite and empower their local startups.

Although I’m a bit biased, I would still strongly suggest starting businesses in Manchester. With its growing amount of successful investments, ease of travel (both nationally and internationally) and affordable cost of living, it just makes sense. There’s also a great community of very talented people here.

You are currently in six countries, where are you planning to expand next? Is Europe the place to be or might the United States be a flourishing market?

We still have a lot of work to do in the cities we’re currently working on empowering, but we do have our sights on even more territories outside of Europe. Where we go next however, depends totally on where entrepreneurs need us most. We are in constant contact with our Startup Ambassadors and Local Heroes in cities we have yet to launch in. We’d love to jump across the pond and be able to empower entrepreneurs in the US market… and we probably will sooner rather than later. Anyone want to introduce us to some awesome co-working spaces? Tweet us at @deskandco!

Well, it had to happen. Sooner or later I had to start studying, but that day hasn’t come yet. I have finished today every single piece of coursework by submitting the last exercise of Algorithms. My next steps are to get marked in this lab and Operating Systems, then I will ( I promise) start revising from this Saturday.

As the timetable says I have got six exams in January, which means I need to study more than I studied in the first year. It’s probably going to be painful, but easy at the same time. I am good at reading stuff, but on the other hand I am not good at doing stuff, which is a “good thing” for someone who is studying Computer Science.

For those who don’t know, Christmas holidays start from this Friday (the 13th) and end on Monday the 13th of January. It’s a full month where you can relax, play video games, build your start-up or if you really want to do it, study. I’ll probably focus on the last bit, since this is my second year and what I’ll get will affect my final overall score. Since I am an MEng, this year counts for something like 12.5%, but it is still something.

As most of you should already know, the first year doesn’t count towards anything, even though you should get at least a 2:1 “if you want to get a job”.

Okay, I guess it’s time to talk about the course units I have chosen for this semester. For the whole year, there are 4 compulsory units which are:

• Fundamental Of Databases
• Software Engineering
• Operating Systems
• Algorithms And Imperative Programming

The general idea is that these courses should give you the basis to face a third year and give you the skills that any Computer Scientist must have. I can’t say much about the course units, because this is just Week 3, but I have already understood, which ones are going to be tricky. I will never be a hardware guy, so I am really enjoying the last unit about Algorithms, which is a two semester unit. The language used for this course is C.

The department believes we have a good knowledge of Java (taught in the first year) so you can easily face C in your second year, as a self taught. C is really interesting because after all these  years, it is at the basis of most the modern technologies that we face every day.

Further I had the possibility to choose two optional course units. These were the possible choices:

• Logic and Modelling
• Processor Microarchitecture
• Machine Learning and Optimisation
• Computer Networks

In the end I chose Computer Networks and Machine Learning. I really didn’t want to take the others because in some way, I already took them in the first year (they were compulsory) and it wasn’t funny, at all. In two weeks time, we will have the reading week, so I guess I will have more time to talk about what we are doing this year. I will be in Rome, enjoying my cat.

Your first year at Uni is always something that you will never forget.

That’s why you should choose the best hall in Manchester if you want to fully live the experience. As the policy says, the halls are guaranteed just for first year students; so it is just one year, but the choice can really make the difference.

When I started looking at the halls, I didn’t have a clue of what I wanted; so the first thing I did was asking questions on the student room. However I didn’t receive any “great” feedback back, so in the end I opted for two halls in Fallowfield and as my second choice, in Victoria Park, I chose Dalton Ellis.

I chose Dalton Ellis because it was in Victoria Park, quite close to Uni, and also because it was one of the halls that was catered and had shared bathrooms. What it seemed to be a random choice, between the dozens of halls that we have in Manchester, it turned to be the best.

Dalton Ellis Hall is the best because in one single area is able to gather different things at once. The diversity of each building that is part of the Dalton Ellis ecosystem make it exceptional. In one single hall, you can opt to have en-suite rooms, shared bathrooms, rooms with a sink and the catered option, which is for everyone. Further, what impressed me was the green that is all around the Hall, which is not even comparable to a Hall in the city centre.

The same green that I see every day, is the one that is able to give us a Basketball field, a squash court and a huge pitch, where you can chill whenever you want. Moreover the catered option gives you a lot of spare time, which you can spend by playing snooker, having a drink in our own bar or playing football outside.

What you can not find here is the noisiness of fallowfield and the need to take the bus every single day. The hall is very close to the city campus, if you want to walk you can do it, without even buying an annual bus pass.

If we want to compare this hall with any other Hall in Fallowfield, they win just on one single aspect, the ratio between males and females. In fact, the main block, in DE, is an only male building and the catered options doesn’t tempt the girls that want to cook for themselves in their first year. However, parties run through the whole year, and if you want to meet someone, you can; even if your hall’s ratio is not that good.

I am currently living in the Main Block, which as I said before is a male only building with shared bathrooms. When I was coming here, I thought that a shared bathroom was the worst thing you could have in a hall, but even though the idea looks horrible, I didn’t have any problem at all. Main Block is also one of the best because it has the largest rooms on campus, and when I say campus I don’t mean just Dalton Ellis, but every single Hall in Manchester. We also have a bar, which is open in the weekends, where you can relax, play some pool or ping pong.

Even if we are a catered Hall, on each floor, in any building there is at least one kitchen with all the facilities and utilities that you need. If you don’t like the food that they serve at the canteen, you can easily cook for yourself in the kitchen.

After having lived here for the last year I give to Dalton Ellis a score of 8 out of 10, because this is the place to be.

The majority of people I have met so far believe that a Job is the final destination after University. I don’t think so, even if that’s where I will end up ( I hope not). I think that in these three or four years of University, instead of thinking about getting a job, a student should think about his/her life. These are the best years of your life, the ones where you have a lot of spare time, the ones where you can meet as many people as possible and the ones where you can actually enjoy life.

That’s why I believe that University is about knowing ourselves, who we are, what we believe and what we want to give to our modern society. It can not be always about getting the best grades and the best job. It can not be always about getting a good salary, living for sixty years and then die (that’s a little bit depressing). It’s also about enjoying what you are doing, finding new things, discovering stuff you didn’t know and stuff you would like to know.

This is what Manchester has to offer, even if there are a lot of people thinking about their future job (why?), there are so many things you can do while studying, which can help you to differentiate yourself from the crowd. In my personal experience, I have been part of the swimming club here at the Acquatics Center ( one of the best pools I have ever seen). Even if I had never done competitive, I decided to give it a try and in the long term now I can say that I see results coming. I am still not at the level of the best guys and maybe I will never be, but I am improving, knowing different people, doing something else apart from studying and I am also getting fit (Oh yeah).

Before coming here I have applied to several top University in the Uk and even one in the US, but this University impressed me for the community that was built around it. With the biggest Student Union in the Uk, there are plenty of activities which you can do and there are plenty of sports. University is about enjoying the best years of your lives and that’s what I mean, studying is not everything, understanding people and learning how to interact with them is even more important.

Next year, I will also be the Operations Director at the Society of Accounting and Business(SOFAB), why? Simply because it is different from what I am doing. Remember, the first rule is to differentiate you from the crowd. Be different, think different and don’t do what the other Computer Scientists do.  Another practical reason can be found in the simple fact that with that role you can know a lot of people who are not in your circles of interest, which means having more connections spread on different fields of interest, which means “valuable connections” that can help you at any moment.

I hope you will come to our SOFAB meetings next year, just to see a different point of view, a different perspective and different people. Life is like an Entrepreneurial journey and yes, I am not going to sit on a chair for the next sixty years, even if I will be over paid by a corporation.

The final destination is not a job, but it is happiness.

ps: The best is yet to come…

Writing on a blog is not the easiest thing in the world. There are always lows and highs in your blogging career and the more you blog, the more you get new followers. This is going to be my first blog post ever on this website, and it is going to be the first of a long series.

When I firstly read a blog post from a blogger I always want to understand, before reading, what kind of person he/she is, because I believe that a blogger is free and is able to say whatever he/she wants from her point of view. That’s why a good understanding of the blogger’s preferences can always help you while reading his/her blog posts.

This is why I am writing two lists in my first blog post, the likes and dislikes. Lists are the most powerful tools a blogger can use and here I am going to use them just to describe my personality and way of behaving.

Likes

1. GNU/Linux and Richard Stallman
2. Entrepreneurship
3. Swimming
4. Innovation
5. Startups
6. Isaac Newton
7. Direct Democracy
8. The Five Star Movement
9. Freedom
10. People who don’t lie to me

Dislikes

1. Redundant people
2. Dictatorship
3. Ideologies
4. Quentin Tarantino and DJango
5. English weather
6. People who do not comment my Blog
7. Cheaters
8. Huge corporations who copy innovators
9. Two of the biggest tech companies in the world (Guess..)
10. The Italian way of doing things (It can be the best or the worst)

Well, these two lists could have been pretty long, but I wanted to give you a first taste of what this blog is going to be about. I extremely love writing about Entrepreneurship, Startups, Technology and what I really think the world should be; but on the other hand, I would like to record the experience I am getting here at the university of Manchester, where I will enjoy the best years of my life.

The conclusion of a blog post is always something embarrassing, I could have stopped writing in the last paragraph with that great sentence about the best years of my life; but today, I want to write down two quotes which have inspired me along these years. The first one has helped me a lot, the latter is more recent, but it helped me understand how the world works.

“If I have seen further, it is only by standing on the shoulders of giants”.

“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”

They have always told me that less than five hundred words for a blog post are not much, but this is it for today, see you in the next blog post.

Let the hack begin.