Outlearning is one of the most important aspects of Big Picture.
It’s essential that every student get out and do some learning outside of class, not just stay in class all the time.
During my time in Big Picture, I’ve gone to several events and work experience opportunities, and have two ongoing internships.
2023
AIE Internship
In week 7 of term 2, I went on a week-long internship at AIE, where we learnt the basics of making games, like how to use Unreal Engine 4 and Autodesk Maya. I talk about it more in my presentation you can find here.
We made simple character models with Autodesk Maya, and added some stuff to an example project with Unreal Engine 4. It was honestly really cool learning those tools, as I’d never used them before, and since I had pretty limited experience with 3D modelling software / game engines too, I learnt a ton of new stuff.
UTS Tech Fest
In week 9 of term 2, I attended the Quantum Hackathon at the annual UTS Tech Fest.
The Quantum Hackathon event spanned two days and we were tasked with making a game that utilised quantum mechanics in some way shape or form.
We got a bit of an introduction to quantum mechanics, like how qubits worked and how we could apply logic to them, and we were also given some sample projects on how to use them.
You can read more about it in my presentation here.
I ended up making a small version of chess, with a 5x5 board instead of 8x8, but I unfortunately didn’t have enough time to implement any of the actual quantum mechanics parts.. so I kinda didn’t do what we were meant to at all BUT it was still a fun experience making the chess game and it was cool seeing what everyone else built :3
UTS Startup Summit
In term 2, I also went to the UTS Startups Summit, which is a (sort of) yearly event run by UTS to inspire and motivate year 9-10 students about what you can do in tech.
We heard from other year 10 students that had already started online businesses, and some other young entrepreneurs too about what they’ve been able to do.
The event was hosted at the Sydney ICC, and while it was a bit boring at times, I took away a lot of really valuable information from the event.
You can read more here.
UTS Open Day
In term 3 my dad and I went to the UTS Open Day, and explored what sort of courses they had available. We talked to one of the people there about possibly getting a scholarship, although it would be quite difficult considering that I wouldn’t have an ATAR upon graduation, but he recognised the “unique situation” that I was in, where I’d have a diploma before even graduating school and he said that we’d be able to contact him for help with trying to get some sort of scholarship at UTS.
You can read more here.
2024
Big Picture Office
In term 2, I started an internship at the Big Picture office in Marrickville. During my time at the office, I’ve helped fix various issues with the Big Picture website, I’ve helped set up various pieces of software and I’ve even helped repair various pieces of technology, like broken Macbooks and old iMacs.
Picture of me fixing a broken Macbook
Picture of me converting an old iMac into a second display
Noble Steed Games
In term 2, I went to Noble Steed Games for their WIP Night event, where multiple game developers showcased their in-progress games and demos. I got to speak to several game developers at the event, and check out a bunch of really cool game demos.
More here.
Swift Student Celebration
After I won the Swift Student Challenge, I was invited out to the Apple offices in the city for a day along with all the other challenge winners in AU/NZ.
We all shared our projects with one another, and listened to various presentations given by apple (ex-)employees.
Group photo at the end of the event
Tata Internship
In term 3, I went to the Tata Consultancy Services offices for an internship. We learnt about various topics and concepts in cybersecurity, and participated in a capture the flag (CTF) competition, where we were given an intentionally vulnerable web application and asked to find as many vulnerabilities (flags) as possible.
related presentation slides here
Cyber Security Careers Day
In term 4, I went to the Department of Education offices for a Cyber Careers Day event. There, we got to do another CTF competition where people got into groups depending on what school they were a part of. Since I was the only one from Leichhardt campus, I was put into a group with some people from a few other schools. Not many people knew much about doing CTF challenges at my table, so I did most of the challenges for our team. We ended up getting third place, but what I thought was really funny was that I was able to singlehandedly beat the Blackwattle Bay campus team of about 4 people ;)
presentation slides: here!
2025
Pyro Internship
Near the start of 2025, I started an internship with an online US-based company called Pyro that lasted for the year. Pyro is a company that focuses on server hosting, like hosting Minecraft servers for a group of friends to play on. I helped out with the website frontend, and helped work on their new game server panel. I met a lot of very talented people during my time at Pyro, and made a bunch of friends!
2026
UTS
During my time at UTS in 2026, I’ve gone to countless events and met so many different people. There are so many events that it’d take half this page if I wanted to write about them all, so you can read about some of them in my 2026 presentations (1) (2)