Contents
About Me
Hey there!
I’m Victor, a Software and Math conjoint student, and I’ll be your Software Part II Blogger for 2023!
Throughout the next couple of months, I’ll do my best to provide a holistic overview of Software Engineering. I’ll try to touch on topics that haven’t been extensively explored by prior bloggers, while also keeping you updated on any changes the specialisation has undergone over the years. Whether you’re absolutely certain about specialising in Software or still unsure, I hope I can provide a perspective that’ll give you deeper insights into what is on offer!
Before we embark on this journey together, let me share a bit more about myself. In my free time, you’ll often find me engrossed in a good book, catching up on the latest k-dramas, or indulging in various creative pursuits. But when university is in full swing, that free time tends to 
Outside of that, I enjoy spending quality time with friends, and taking evening strolls – there’s just something about the night-time serenity that brings me immense peace 😀🌙.
A Reflection on Part I
Reflecting on part one, I can honestly say that I had a lot of fun! Entering first year engineering, I personally came in blind, which, in hindsight, may not have been the smartest move considering I’ll / we’ll be studying it for the next 4-5 years. But hey, we live and learn, right? To make sure you don’t stumble into a similar situation, I thought it would be helpful to discuss the semester two courses. For the sake of completeness, I’ve gone through both semester one and two, so feel free to disregard the former.
I’ll strive to maintain objectivity, but remember to take my opinions with a grain of salt. Also, just a friendly heads up, I’ll be outlining how the courses were conducted in 2022, so keep in mind that things might have changed since then. With that said, I do hope this gives you a better idea of what’s in store for you moving forward ⏩!
Outline
Assessments:
This course was conducted online.
- Quizzes: 30%
- Test 1: 15%
- Test 2: 15%
- Exam: 40%
Teaching Team:
- Course Coordinator: Kian Wee Soh
- Lecturers: Peter Bier, Cameron Walker, Michael Gravatt and Kevin Jia
Summary
ENGSCI 111 is very much a foundation course for Engineering. It may not be the flashiest, but it provides the essential building blocks for success. The topics you cover here in calculus, probability and linear algebra will aid you in many courses moving forward – regardless of specialisation.
Advice
- Do the quizzes as early as you can, they aren’t difficult, but they can be if you leave them to the last minute.
- A practice problem book is provided; do as many as you can – it’ll pretty much serve as your revision for tests and the exam.
- Considering utilising tools such as GeoGebra’s 3D graphing calculator to help with visualising vectors and planes.
Outline
Assessments:
This course was conducted online.
- Quizzes: 10%
- Peer Assessments: 8%
- Assignment 1 (GROUP): 6%
- Assignment 2 (GROUP): 6%
- Test 1: 20%
- Test 2: 20%
- Exam: 30%
Teaching Team:
- Course Coordinator: Hazim Namik
- Lecturers: Jason Ingham, and Hazim Namik
Summary
ENGGEN 121 offers an intriguing blend of Statics and Dynamics. In Statics, you’ll analyse forces on objects at equilibrium, while Dynamics focuses on forces and motion of objects in non-equilibrium. It’s pretty much taught from scratch, however, it may touch on concepts from high school. This course offers a lot of assistance, and serves as a great foundation for Mechanical and Mechatronics.
Advice
- The quizzes are time-consuming as such, plan to do them sooner rather than later.
- There are practice problems at the end of each chapter for both Statics and Dynamics, it’s quite crucial to complete them.
Outline
Assessments:
This course was conducted online.
- Quizzes: 5%
- Test: 10%
- CAD Assignment: 4%
- Design Project 1: 10%
- Design Project 2 (GROUP): 26%
- Exam: 45%
Teaching Team:
- Course Coordinator: Enrique del Rey Castillo
- Lecturers: Mark Jeunnette, Stephen Kavermann, and Nona Taute
Summary
ENGGEN 115 is a course that places a strong emphasis on engineering design. The course is very project and group heavy, as a result, you’ll be able to develop skills in technical drawings (orthographic & isometric), CAD, and general good design practice. Presentations and communication skills are drawn on throughout the course, making it relevant to all specialisations.
Advice
- From what I understand, the teaching team for 115 is often quite busy. As such, the course has struggled with poor organisation. Often assignments lack clarity, therefore, don’t hesitate to ask your lecturers for clarification.
- The analysis portion of the course is mostly a repeat of ENGGEN 121 Statics – as such, doing ENGGEN 115 in semester one is often more ideal. However, it does offer a more practical perspective, giving you a taste of Civil & Structural Engineering.
Projects
The projects do change from year to year, but in 2022, we had two design projects and one CAD assignment. The primary focus was however the two design projects. To give you a rough idea of what to expect, snippets of mine + my group’s have been included on the right.
Outline
Assessments:
This course was conducted online.
- Quizzes: 5%
- Assignment 1: 7%
- Assignment 2: 16%
- Assignment 3: 7%
- Test (MCQ): 25%
- Exam (MCQ): 40%
Teaching Team:
- Course Coordinator: Bryan Ruddy, Melissa Gunn
- Lecturers: Andrea Kolb, John OSullivan, Aimee Matiu, and Alys Clark
Summary
ENGGEN 140 dives into the fascinating world of thermodynamics, exploring renewable energy, biomedical applications, and energy storage. The course had a strong focus on engineering ethics and Māori culture, and the impacts we have on society and the environment. This course can change drastically from year-to-year. It’s a shame that it wasn’t well run in 2022, as it did touch on many meaningful topics. However, the teaching team definitely had a lot of heart. Elements of 140 have relevance to Biomedical Engineering.
Advice
- Generally, this course hasn’t been perceived to be difficult, but like most courses, do make sure not to fall behind.
Outline
Assessments:
- MATLAB Labs: 12%
- C Labs: 12%
- Matlab Project: 10%
- C Project: 10%
- Assignments: 2%
- Test 1 (1 A4 Sheet): 12%
- Test 2 (1 A4 Sheet): 12%
- Exam (2 A4 Sheets): 30%
Teaching Team:
- Course Coordinator: Kian Wee Soh
- Lecturers: Colin Simpson, Peter Bier, and Paul Denny
Summary
ENGGEN 131 is all about computing in engineering. The course is divided into two halves, the first touches on MATLAB, and the second covers the C programming language. The course is very well structured, and provides plenty of material to help you understand coding concepts – serving as a great intro to programming. ENGGEN 131 is relevant to any specialisation that has programming, primarily, Software, Engineering Science, Biomedical, Computer Systems and Mechatronics.
Advice
- The tests and exams involved us handwriting code; as such, if this continues beyond 2022, make sure to practise handwriting code.
- All the MATLAB lab tasks are provided to you in a PDF. If you have had prior experience in programming, or are finding the course a bit slow, many did jump ahead to reduce their workload come test time.
Outline
Assessments:
- Assignments / Quizzes: 26%
- Laboratory: 4%
- Test 1 (MCQ, Open Book): 15%
- Test 2 (MCQ, Open Book): 15%
- Exam (Open Book): 40%
Teaching Team:
- Course Coordinator: Mark Andrews
- Lecturers: William Lee and Jesin James
Summary
ELECTENG 101 is a foundational course in electrical and computer engineering that covers essential knowledge of electrical and digital systems. The course is quite broad, but starts from the basics – shedding new light on high school topics. You’ll explore circuit analysis, number systems, Boolean algebra, ADC, and a lot more. This course is primarily relevant to Electrical, Computer Systems, Mechatronics, Software and Biomedical.
Advice
- This course relies on you having a solid foundation on the concepts taught at the beginning of the course; as such, make sure you have an excellent grasp of them.
- MCQ problem sets are provided; make sure you can do them, but do note they’re often a lot more underwhelming compared to the kinds of questions you would get in a test.
- The end of chapter questions tend to be more interesting and insightful.
2 things I wish I had realised a bit sooner:
(1) Circuits are “malleable”; you can mentally twist and turn them, revealing neat characteristics.
(2) Components can be shorted
Laboratory
There was one lab for this course in 2022. It revolved around us using logic gates to set up a smart car – allowing it to navigate a maze on its own.
Outline
Assessments:
- Quizzes: 20%
- Laboratories: 10%
- Test 1 (MCQ, Online): 7.5%
- Test 2 (MCQ, Online): 7.5%
- Exam (2 A4 Sheets): 55%
Teaching Team:
- Course Coordinator: Michael Hodgson
- Lecturers: Thomas Loho, Jenny Malmstrom, and Steve Matthews
Summary
CHEMMAT 121 explores the fascinating world of materials science. From the deformation and structure of solids, to the strengthening mechanisms and failure analysis of materials, this course covers quite a lot and is definitely the most dense out of the bunch. Not much of the content draws from high school; however, there are elements of redox. As its name suggests, CHEMMAT 121 is most useful for Chemical and Materials Engineering – but does appear in other specialisations.
Advice
- Seeing as the course is quite dense, you do want to start preparing a cheat sheet quite early on. Personally, as each week passed, I added a bit more to mine – yielding a completed summary sheet come exam time.
- The course is probably the most reliant on memorisation – I know some people who liked Anki for making flash cards.
Laboratory
There were three labs for this course in 2022. They aren’t designed to be challenging, but instead to provide you with some practical intuition of the theoretical concepts covered in class.
The difficulty of each course will be dependent on your background and interests, but if you’re curious about the 2022 stats, someone did make an OIA request for them. I’ve laid out everything in the following graphs on the right.
To wrap up this section, I encourage you to remember one important thing, go out and have fun! First year is an incredible opportunity to delve into your passions and discover new interests. Embrace the freedom to explore your niches 🗺️!
What is Software Engineering?
In essence, Software Engineering revolves around the practical construction of high-level software solutions, while still remaining faithful to the underlying theoretical principles.
Its breadth can extend to other interdisciplinary fields; as such, you’ll be at the centre, which draws from other related disciplines, bringing everything together to deliver a final product. While your degree may not be centred around these other fields, the extent to which you choose to explore them is entirely up to you, if you decide to explore them at all.
Why Software Engineering?
So why Software Engineering? In truth, I probably would have been content in any specialisation. But when it came down to it, I was torn between Software and Engineering Science. I knew I wanted a mixture of design, coding and maths. With EngSci, I knew I’d get a lot in the last 2 departments, however with Software, I could tailor the degree to encompass a healthy amount of all three. Plus, I knew with my conjoint, I would be able to sneak in a couple EngSci-esque courses here and there. Thus my decision was made, which brings us to today 😀.
If you’ve made it this far, thank you! I’m always open to hearing your thoughts and suggestions. Don’t hesitate to say hi and ask any questions if you see me waddling out and about.
Until next time!
– Victor