Blogs
September 29, 2026
My name is Hephzibah Wilson and I have been a Graduate Software Engineer at Hamilton Robson since June 2025. The first time I heard about Hamilton Robson was at the Ulster Computing Careers fair last year, however, I knew of several of the projects that the company was involved in; from W5 the Our Place in Space Experience, and the Game Of Thrones Studio Tour App.
After speaking with last year’s placement students at the fair and learning a little more about Hamilton Robson, I quickly realised that this was a company that I could learn an awful lot from, and would provide me with chances to get experience in areas that I was interested in, but had not had the chance to work in yet. After 100 days working here, I am absolutely thrilled to say that I was right!
The first few weeks were dedicated to bringing me up to speed with the technology and the projects that I would be working on. I was given workshops and mini projects to get to grips with databases, front end development with React and Typescript, backend work with AWS, integration and unit testing with Jest and Cypress, and managing codebases with Git. My favourite of which was definitely the React project which was based around creating our own Pokedex website from scratch and really learning the ins and outs of Typescript, React and REST APIs. The team was really supportive in answering all my many questions and helping me grow as a developer.
Getting the opportunity to hear about the projects I would be working on and how they function was great as well, which we got through presentations about projects such as Beacon IQ where we dug into the architecture of how it all works together to create a cohesive product. It’s great looking back over the introduction now I’ve been working on it for a while and being able to fully put all of the pieces together.
Once onboarding had finished, I was able to get to work with real projects. Beacon IQ has been the project that I have worked most on throughout my time at Hamilton Robson, and I have managed to get my hands into all the different aspects, from helping installers debug booths, to testing the physical sensors, to working on the Lambdas driving the backend, to useful changes to the front end of the Admin portal tool. Fully understanding how each aspect works together to create a cohesive whole was eye-opening and made me much more confident when understanding things. It’s been brilliant to see my changes making a real difference to the product and the way we are able to tackle challenges as a team. One of my favourite moments was the first time I deployed one of my changes through to production and was able to use the tool I’d made to help debug issues.
Probably the best challenge so far was whenever I demoed the Storydreamer, an AI interviewer at the Belfast Media Festival. This involved ensuring that it all ran smoothly, interacting with attendees at the festival and answering any questions that they had. Initially I found the idea pretty intimidating as it was up to me to make sure that all the correct equipment was brought onsite and set up correctly, however in the end it was such a rewarding experience and it was lovely chatting to everyone and getting some insight into the media landscape of Northern Ireland.
For anyone starting their first entry-level job, here are a few things that I have learnt. First of all, always be willing to learn! The constant changing world of technology means that there are always new and better ways to approach challenges, and it’s one of the big perks of the field that even outside formal education, we need to keep learning. Take your time and make sure you understand how it works, and the best ways to use the new tools. Secondly, keep at your personal projects. They’re a great way to build tools specifically helpful to you, and it can teach you a lot about new or old techniques!
The first 100 days absolutely flew by, and looking back it’s amazing to see how much I’ve managed to learn in so little time thanks to the brilliant software team at Hamilton Robson. They’ve made my time here so enjoyable and really expanded my skillset. I’m excited to see where the job will take me next!
If you’ve enjoyed reading this post and are interested in seeing a little more of what goes on in my everyday life, connect with me on LinkedIn by clicking here!
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