Meet James Cullen

My name is James, and I came to Denmark from New Zealand in 2018, hoping to use my earlier degree in Linguistics and English Language teaching here. That was not so successful, but I found a job in a pub in Aarhus, around a lot of other internationals. Over covid lockdowns, stuck inside with no work as a bartender, I found an online coding course, and started doing that to pass the time. Shortly after passing my Danish language test, I applied to VIA for Software Technology Engineering, knowing I would be able to make a proper life with that bachelor under my belt, and I have been offered a full-time permanent position thanks to this course.

Meet like-minded people

Life in Denmark is great, while it requires going to Aarhus for much of a nightlife, the opportunities are many and the system works well. I know how hard it can be for internationals coming to Denmark, there is a lot of hidden tricks and bureaucracy to navigate, and it can be tough trying to break into a Danish group. But the best part of Uni is that you are surrounded by people who are all in a similar position, so it’s very easy to find your place. Embracing the friendship of your fellow students is so important, you can make friends for life here. The people I have met have been one of my greatest pleasures.

Building knowledge and skills

I have been completely blown away by the other students in my course, and by the lecturers who teach us. I have learned so many skills from having only tried a simple coding course, to now having an understanding of full-stack web dev, AR/VR game development, user experience, development in JS, Java, C#, C, learning about Databases, embedded software – it really has given me a broad opportunity to explore the areas that drive me. And will continue to be an interest into the future.

My career path

With VIA, I was lucky to find a student job, and from that a 6-month internship, at a Marine Survey Engineering firm. The experience of working within a real-world company was invaluable: it introduced me to the Danish office environment, it gave me the confidence to know I was capable of succeeding post-education, and I even eventually got a full-time permanent position from them! 

My future is my new position as a Technical Documentation Editor, bridging the gap between software developer and customer, as well as taking on project management roles to integrate technology into our manual processes. This role would not have been possible without having years of hands-on experience with real projects at VIA. I also hope to use the skills I learned in multi-media and games to create immersive and engaging eLearning for our software. So, I have a lot to look forward to.