BSc (Hons) Forensic Computing, 2011
UCLan Forensic Computing graduate, Laura Dryden, has enhanced her technological expertise to become a test engineer for Microchip.
When it came to choosing her course of study, Laura knew she wanted to do something involving computers, as it was a passion of hers, but didn’t exactly know what to study. However, after looking for a course, the one that most sparked her interest was Forensic Computing.
After graduating in 2011, Laura secured her first graduate job as a test engineer for world-leading technology firm, Microchip, and has been there ever since. As part of her role, Laura designs and implements automation test harnesses for a varied range of products and prototypes based on Microchip’s WiFi chips. Laura’s duties also include designing tests, manual testing of products and prototypes, defect tracking and providing test reports.
Looking back on her time at UCLan, Laura is hugely proud of completing her dissertation project after spending a significant amount of time and effort working on it. She states: “It was a great achievement and a lasting memory.”
Speaking about the impact of her degree on her employment, Laura said: “I don’t think I’d have my current job if I didn’t have my degree and I’m thankful for that. Certain aspects of my course have aided in different parts of my work and I’ve been able to come up with some innovative solutions to implement in our test systems based off some of the work I did on the course.”
When asked about any advice she’d give to graduates wanting to follow a similar career path, Laura said: “Don’t get discouraged when a job you really want doesn’t pan out the way you wanted it to. It just opens up doors to other opportunities that can make you just as happy and fulfilled.”
On a personal note, Laura states one of her best non-work related achievements as the time spent working on her health, losing over 100lbs in weight post graduation.