Three years ago I was about to be discharged from the Cyprus National Guard, with a confirmed place at Lancaster University to study Computer Science. I also started looking for a summer job, to save some money for the 3 years abroad.
I was fortunate enough to be hired from a small ISP, Wavespeed, in which I served a software developer initially, but I also got into networks. After the acquisition of Cablenet from Wavespeed’s people, I led the design and implementation of the company’s Nationwide IP backbone and integrating it with the rest of the equipment. Currently, I am (supposed to be anyway 
) the IT Manager, leading the very dynamic team of Cablenet’s Network Operations Center, making sure to provide whatever is necessary to support the company’s rapid growth.
This job not only allowed me to develop my computer skills, but it also to improve time management, team working and managerial skills. Having this job concurrently during University sometimes meant psychological exhaustion, but I believe it was worth it: my university theoretical background has a matching practical understanding in the industry, which I believe is a very important and crucial thing for one to have, especially in Computer Science where theory must be backed with experience. Career-wise, I love this job. Working in an ISP however, can be very stressful. Especially when you are in charge for the 24/7 uninterrupted operation of the network in a rapidly expanding company with constantly changing parameters. Now with the start of my PhD I don’t know if I can still keep up doing both at the same time.
Now, academic wise I have successfully completed my Bachelor of Science in Computer Science Innovation with a 1st class degree (highest grade in UK) and I am set to continue with postgraduate studies doing a PhD. During these three years I believe I have met most, if not all, my personal targets and for me undergraduate university education is what I hopped for: explore, learn, challenging and sometimes difficult. Now I will be continuing with a PhD at Lancaster University. I do not know the exact area yet, I want to poke around a bit before decide on a subject, but certainly it is going to be network-related. I would like to relate my PhD and work as much as possible (if at all possible), so I can find a way to keep both.
For now, I will try to relax as much as possible during the summer, clear my head and start refreshed the new long period of at least 3 years of PhD.
