To date

Two weeks. Two weeks in life passes by in the blink of an eye. However, two weeks as a computer programming apprentice is eventful to say the least. So much has happened in the last couple of weeks that unfortunately our blog has suffered. So to recap on the events to date, as much for the benefit of this blog, as for our own recollection and realisation of our accomplishments we will discuss our actions. To follow on from our last blog entry, as a team we listened to the recording of our radio debut. This provided at least an hour of amusement as the realisation set in that a microphone in the face has an unusual effect on our vocabulary. 'Erm' and 'Really' being a main point of reference during our short interview.

The following days consisted of finalising our preparations for the forthcoming business fair. The final designs for our banners, leaflets, business cards, and shirts were sent to the printers. We also started on the development of our vehicle diagram and GUI of our electronic car dashboard. We laid out this brief diagram using pygame imported into the python programming language. Through intuition and trial and error we eventually ended up with a rough sketch of the program.

Before we knew what was happening we found ourselves setting up the stand. On our three tables lay our two apple macs, a variety of business cards, leaflets, and other such essentials.

Day of the fair. Our macs sprang to life displaying our prototype programs with almost as much enthusiasm as the people who programmed them. Today was the day. Love it or hate it, we would get through it. The day started slowly and with little interest from prospective customers. Apparently, apprentices aren't qualified to deal with the demands of software development. How narrow minded. If any of us believed this was the case we would not have been there. We needed to show we could, to stand out, to prove ourselves, to show that in this corporate event inexperience was not a disadvantage. We did this the only way we knew how, we embraced our youth. We played the Wii and encouraged others to join in. A talented member of our team played acoustic guitar and we spoke to the public without any fabrication or falseness associated with such an event. We socialised, not with the intent to sell but to express our passion for what we do. With in a short period of time we were approached by a local news paper for a photo as we were the only stand that stood out among the clone like stands.
We had positive responses from other stands and passers by, and although unorthodox we was original and genuine.

Although the day was far from perfect it went well for our first time at such an event. We all learnt a lot and it was an experience not to be forgotten. Granted, there are things we may have done differently given the chance. However, one thing we would never change was staying true to ourselves and the company.