Developing interactive corporate Web sites while studying for a
degree is no problem for Matthew Knight
When you meet someone who describes their job as "nothing but a
paid holiday" there can be little doubt that they love what they
do, writes Martin Couzins.
Matthew Knight, a Web developer at design agency Deepend,
overflows with enthusiasm for his job. He has been at Deepend for
15 months as a part of his work placement for the third year of a
BA degree in Interactive Multimedia Communication at Wolverhampton
University. And he is enjoying his work so much that he has
arranged to continue working for Deepend while he finishes the
final year of his degree.
Knight's work at the agency has been varied, with the past eight
months spent on a Web projects for Telewest.co.uk, Ladbrokes' Best Bets and
Scorecast Interactive TV services. "It is not rare for us to
work on three or more projects at a time," he says.
On Telewest.co.uk, Knight was involved in coding an HTML Web
site that mirrored the Flash generated version. On the first
iteration of the site he wrote some 700 lines of Javascript to
create an HTML navigation tool. "It was a labour of love," he
says.
For his work on set-top boxes for interactive TV, Knight mostly
used HTML and Javascript "with some extensions and omissions". He
says, "Using Javascript to its full extent on the set-top box is
quite interesting." And cites, for example, dynamic tables.
"Through Javascript you can write to and update the content of any
table cell, ie images, live text, etc, similar to dynamic HTML in
version five Internet browsers."
Knight enjoyed working on interactive TV services because there
was a lot of client-side work, rather than just server-side stuff.
When not coding Javascript, Knight likes to use PHP because "it is
a really quick language for processing text and data".
He says his degree course has helped him with his work at
Deepend. The creative element, communication and Web content helped
him get to grips in a very design-led environment. "I have a broad
background and I think that really helps because you do need an
understanding of so many different disciplines," he explains.
And when Knight is coding and gets stuck he tucks into the
manuals, something he thought he would never do. But that is what
he likes about the work - its trial-and-error nature. "The best
thing about this job is that you learn on the job," he says.
However, Knight still has to squeeze a year's study into his
busy work schedule, which "should be interesting to say the least"
he says.
Curriculum vitae
Name: Matthew Knight
Job title: Web developer
Age: 21
Qualifications: currently studying for BA (hons) in
Interactive Multimedia Communication at Wolverhampton
University
IT skills: HTML, Perl, PHP
Hobbies: Coding, watching films, drinking, relaxing
Favourite film: The Matrix
Favourite pub: The Griffin, Shoreditch
Knight on Knight: ponce, unironed, uninhibited