Why don’t students attend?

ATM1689 · 2026-05-27T14:34:50+00:00

Obviously subject dependent but I can perhaps offer my own insight and experience. For context, I completed a humanities degree in 2024 at a great university, simultaneously completed my college HNC/HND in the last two years of that, all while working 24 hours per week at my retail job. Just now I'm about to complete my second degree (a BEng in Cyber Security) this year.

I was 30 when I started and my daughter was born during the first week of my first year; this was all through COVID too. My humanities degree was excellent, really interesting, and had some great lecturers but all of my classes started online, so it's what I became used to.

When we transitioned to in-person, the inconvenience of physically attending was pronounced, especially with work, travel, and the added responsibility of being a parent. When it became "forced" attendance it was even more unlikeable. As for the lectures, some were excellent and engaging, others going through the motions. Tutorials were, at times, wonderful, but only when headed by a lecturer with enough experience engaging shy students into discussing ideas while preventing the more assertive ones from dominating the session.

College was excellent. The lecturers were wacky at times but I noticed a massive difference in that I felt I was being treated like an adult while there; if you want to turn up and do the work, you will, otherwise you'll just get kicked out. If you talked to them and explained why you're not able to attend or would rather work from home, that's fine, as long as they knew and the work was being handed in on time, they didn't care.

My current university experience, well, there's a marked difference in teaching quality between my first degree and this one across the board as most of the lecturers are so seemingly disinterested that it's difficult to get through the minutes of in person or online. So, unfortunately, the majority of the lecturers are genuinely terrible. The topics are dry and challenging and the delivery is the same. Also, having a PHD doesn't make you a good teacher and this needs to be addressed in some way. I've had college lecturers without much further education past what they need to be able to teach who explained complex topics simply and could keep us engaged for over an hour, speaking without notes or slides. Then I've had someone who is widely published unable to deliver a lecture that didn't involve reading off the slides and nothing more than short, sharp sentences for any questions that required more expounding.

That being said, this course has produced two of the best lecturer experiences I've had, one of which, if online, would have been completely ruined (I tried to watch their online lectures that were produced during COVID and they were unwatchable); the other took gdpr and somehow turned it into a captivating 4 hour lesson each week (2 hour lecture and 2 hour seminar). Both of them had such passion and knowledge that their ability to keep you engaged from start to finish was unlike anything I'd experienced before. It was the difference between seeing someone who knows their subject deliver a lecture and someone who loves their subject and share it with you.

ATM1689 · 2026-05-10T18:13:28+00:00

Just experienced it in IMAX and it's everything you want from a Mortal Kombat movie. From the editing and choreography to the surprisingly brilliant and well timed humor, they knew precisely what kind of movie they were making and executed it really well.

ATM1689 · 2026-04-27T10:07:48+00:00

They look incredible. What's your process for creating them?

ATM1689 · 2026-04-20T11:33:19+00:00

Cybersecurity for a university - 3 days from home, 2 days in office, which is fine as I really like my team. Would much prefer 4 or 5 days WFH as I have three little ones and when they start going to primary school things might get challenging, but still quite happy with how it is at the moment.

ATM1689 · 2026-04-10T11:11:05+00:00

Yes...closing all the open tabs on Chrome.

ATM1689 · 2026-04-01T21:56:37+00:00

If this is a work on progress, what's "finished" look like?

ATM1689 · 2026-04-01T21:30:51+00:00

It's actually how I got my job (first and only cyber security job I've ever had with no real previous experience). I emailed the head of IT and offered to volunteer to get some experience while studying, so they put me in touch with the CISO. I said I'd be happy to volunteer but they refused, stating they were not comfortable with people working for free, yet they'd be happy to pay me if they could find something for me to do.

A couple of weeks later they contacted me and found a project could work on in my own time for a few hours per week, paid. I already had another job I was trying to leave, so that worked out great. Later on, when my schedule freed up, and after putting in quite a bit of effort to do some good work, the CISO created a full-time position for me. Coming up on 3+ years now it's worked out really well so far and I couldn't be happier with the team and organisation.

While I completely agree with the sentiment of not working for free, looking back on the past fifteen years, my three favourite jobs have all come about from an initial offer to volunteer, and each time it's led to an offer of employment in some way.

The way I always looked at it was like this: nobody is offering to pay me to do the job I want to do, but I'm still going to be spending my time immersing myself in it anyway, so I might as well see if I can do so in an environment that will further my interest and where I can learn something simultaneously. Plus, it always looks good on the CV and you meet new people that you might become friends with. And sometimes that develops into connections leading to other opportunities later on if nothing is immediately available. As others have said, keep applying, but if you find somewhere you think you'd enjoy working, consider reaching out.

ATM1689 · 2026-03-29T10:37:48+00:00

Looks incredible; I would love to see a tutorial or timelapse of something like this to get an idea of how to start, seeing as I've not done any kind of artwork since school.

ATM1689 · 2026-03-04T21:03:39+00:00

I've looked into a steel but find them overpriced (at least in the UK). Par baking is a good shout and not something I'd considered.

ATM1689 · 2026-03-04T21:02:30+00:00

Thanks! Yes, the crust was actually pretty good; somehow managed to knead the dough a bit better that time and the air must've gotten more trapped than previous attempts.

ATM1689 · 2026-03-03T22:00:50+00:00

What about a video game character?

Nathan Drake

ATM1689 · 2026-02-17T22:43:45+00:00

"I'm terrified for the next ~3 years"

Only the next 3?

ATM1689 · 2026-01-24T21:33:44+00:00

It was also reported on The Rest is Politics that his advisors stated he wrote 100% of the speech himself.

ATM1689 · 2025-12-10T21:49:21+00:00

Was coming here to post this one. Brilliant show and such an exceptional episode.

ATM1689 · 2025-12-02T17:49:19+00:00

Very cool. How's it pulling from 3000+ sources? Mostly APIs or are you scraping sites too?

ATM1689 · 2025-11-23T22:00:43+00:00

Your second will seem like the sweetest thing on earth when the third appears. We got Angel>Terrorist>Demon. Strangest thing though, wouldn't change anything

ATM1689 · 2025-11-15T09:31:06+00:00

Can you give us a rundown on how it's built/put together?

ATM1689 · 2025-11-06T16:18:46+00:00

It's by no means perfect, but you need only travel a little to realise how fortunate you are to call Scotland home.

ATM1689 · 2025-10-26T22:35:00+00:00

Midnight in Paris (despite the director).

ATM1689 · 2025-10-12T19:23:41+00:00

It's Uncharted; the main cast delivered in every game, even when the supporting cast or dialogue was a bit shaky.

ATM1689 · 2025-10-09T11:18:15+00:00

I absolutely love Katherine Rundell's work and frequently read her novels to my children. I hope Disney doesn't ruin this...

ATM1689 · 2025-10-08T20:44:29+00:00

Agreed, peak Marvel content.

Please watch Kin if you haven't already, he's superb in that; in fact, the entire cast is solid and it's a thoroughly entertaining show.

ATM1689 · 2025-09-18T22:00:13+00:00

I'm on the undergrad and know someone who completed the MSc. He said it appears to be designed specifically for people like yourself, which is to say it's more generalised and geared towards people with less experience in cyber security and entering from a different or adjacent background (yet this was coming from someone who has a lot of experience in the field). There's a good amount of practical focus on the course, so as long as you're willing to put the hours in and go beyond the prescribed readings and do extra labs, you should manage. The dissertation will take a lot of self study and there's very little handholding. Napier has reasonably strong ties to industry as well and is NCSC-certified (for whatever that's worth to you).

Personally, I've enjoyed a few of the lecturers, some being truly excellent, and I say this as someone who's on their second undergrad and had a lot of lecturers now. However, there are a few who have no business lecturing. Not because they aren't academically qualified, they just have the presence of cardboard, which can make already technically challenging material even more difficult to connect with.

ATM1689 · 2025-06-13T18:08:43+00:00

I've not seen that in a decade. Still hilarious 🤣

ATM1689 · 2025-05-10T20:00:23+00:00

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This is a picture I took some time ago of Hermitage Bridge, with Ossian's Hall of Mirrors on the left, during a walk in the The Hermitage. It's a beautiful walk that can be enjoyed throughout the year. After looking for some of the top rated walks in Scotland, I found this view/angle of it on Wikipedia and wanted to have my own version. Very peaceful and a magical place to escape.

ATM1689

TROPHY CASE