Tristan Larke

Current Employer/Organisation Name

Rocket Science Group

What have you been doing since leaving Exeter, and what are you doing now?

Since leaving Exeter, I’ve been a software engineer for a media consultancy, with one of my career highlights being getting to work on the msg sphere. After 3 and a half years there, I moved into consultancy in the video games industry, getting to work with household gaming brands.

Why did you choose this career? And what do you enjoy most about your work?

I didn’t set out to become a software engineer after graduation, but after enjoying the software work in a part-time job, I took the opportunity to make it my full-time career in the media industry

I value working in consultancy as I get to work on lots of new projects and tackle new challenges across domains.

With the industries I’ve worked in I’ve enjoyed getting stuck in with the technical work, which there is a lot of in media. With a lot of science-based work like colour science and the maths of compression algorithms for streaming video. Gaming has similar challenges as well, with a more relaxed work culture and the chance to work on things you genuinely enjoy.

Please tell us if you were a member of any societies, groups or sports clubs?

University of Exeter football clubs
Rock and Metal society

What did you enjoy most about your programme and what was the biggest highlight?

The close-knit nature of the course and the chance to work across disciplines and choose my own path. A highlight was the group project making a muon detector in my third year, the group was really good to work with and we achieved a lot.

What did you most enjoy about studying here?

The course and the people I studied with. The size of the uni was really good as well as it didn’t feel like too many people and you always knew someone.

Why did you choose to study at Exeter?

The course was exactly what I wanted.

What skills and experiences have been most useful for your career?

The multidisciplinary skills of project work from natsci, being able to take new challenges and using what you know from other areas to help solve them.

The teamwork from working with a close-knit course, with learning from and working with team members.

What advice would you give to a current student who wishes to pursue your career?

Be bold and put yourself out there by attending industry shows as a student, they are often cheap and it’s good to meet people in person to get ahead in job applications for companies and know the people.

Make use of alumni to help learn about the careers and to have contacts to offer advice.

Practice coding outside of uni to demonstrate interest outside of study.

What are your plans for the future?

I am not sure and will see what happens.