SCD Industrial Placement Student Profile
Morgan Robinson – Systems Administrator 2020-21
Morgan Robinson, originally from Lincolnshire, has always had a preference towards the STEM subjects, such as Maths, Physics and Computing. So it's no surprise he's choosing to study a degree in Computer Science at the University of Lincoln, and complete an Industrial Placement in the Scientific Computing Department (SCD).
At SCD, Morgan's main role is to assist the team within the Systems Division working on the Tier-1 Data Storage Operations. He says, “I'm helping maintain our Ceph storage cluster - ECHO. This involves tasks to help maintain the storage nodes." ECHO is housed within the Rutherford Appleton Laboratory's Scientific Data Centre, which hosts one of the 12 large Tier-1 computer centres globally. ECHO stores vast amounts of the Large Hadron Collider's experimental data. As well as this, he continues “I spend time on my own personal development, to be able to take on more tasks and responsibilities."
When pondering about what attracted him to this role in particular, Morgan recalls “The main thing that interested me was the environment that I would be working in. As someone who has always had an interest in maths-focused topics such as Physics and Computer Science, working at STFC seemed extremely interesting." His favourite thing about working in the organisation so far is, he says, that “STFC has offered me lots of opportunities to improve myself and learn new things. All of which has made this placement even more valuable." Morgan's advice for anyone considering applying for an STFC Industrial Placement is "Go for it! The job description and desired skills are definitely handy to take a look at - use them as a guide for skills to build up on."
Outside of work, Morgan likes to keep in touch with friends via online gaming or table top games, all of which he says “has been great over the lockdowns!"
