Tom Clark, Class of 2018

Tom Clark didn’t plan to do a gap year when he finished Freemen’s in 2018, but when he missed the grades he needed for university, he decided not to go through clearing and take the year to reapply.  

During that year, he spent seven weeks volunteering and trekking in Nepal. He dug ditches and mixed cement in the Gorkha region, connecting water pipes to villages and building tap stands, before trekking through the Ruby Valley.  

“You don’t understand what life is like until you do [something like] that,” he says when we meet on campus one afternoon in the summer. He saw the opportunity, earning the money himself to fund the trip. 

“A gap year is an excellent idea and between A Levels and university is the best time to see the world before academia. If it seems exciting, do some window-shopping and go for it.”  

Tom misses Freemen’s and the routine of seeing friends every day, although he admits he recently went interrailing around Europe with friends, seeing 20 countries in a month. He remembers the strong relationships with teachers at Freemen’s.  

“They are on your side and push you to be best he can be. 

My teacher said that just because a university course looks amazing or it is your dream job, it doesn’t mean it’s right for you. You need support and the right care, so that [the course] isn’t taking too much from you.”  

Today, Tom works as a software engineer for Chess Dynamics, a surveillance and fire control specialist. He admits that software engineer had not been on his radar in school, it had always been about programming. He describes his work as “complicated”, but he enjoys it very much. 

“The course at university is not like [software engineering] in practice. It prepares you for it, but there is a lot of learning once you make the jump into the workplace.” 

Tom reached out to Freemen’s following an initiative at his company to talk to more young people to get them interested in software engineering. He hopes to speak at a careers panel next year. 

Tom’s advice for those who want to get into software engineering: 

• Need interest in designing and creating apps 
• Enjoy coding  
• Maybe enjoy using python language 
• Do what I never did, look for companies in the area you want to work and contact them for work experience. Meet people and talk to them and understand their career paths.