Samuel struggled to choose between software engineering and games development. At UTS, he’s doing both.
As a high school student, Samuel Coa dreamt of being a game developer, but he knew the gaming industry would be tough to break into.
So, he set his sights on finding a degree that would give him future job security and let him pursue his gaming goals at the same time — and he found it in the Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) in Software Engineering at UTS.
“I knew that the field of software engineering was very flexible, because many different industries require some form of software and tech. I thought if I could get into software engineering, I would have a lot of options, and it turns out that’s true,” he says.
“There’s also so much overlap between software development and games at UTS, so I thought, why not? I’ll just use my electives to study game development.”
Rubbing shoulders with titans of industry
Now, four years into his studies, the degree is delivering on everything Samuel hoped for: a flexible course structure, a clear focus on application, and the chance to build fundamental software engineering and specialist game development skills in one.
Classroom learning emphasises hands-on practice, particularly in game development subjects.
“The best part is they teach us the basics and then they say, ‘Go and use them’. There are studio subjects where you take the skill you’ve learnt and work in a team to make something, so it’s all about applying your knowledge to real projects,” Samuel says.
Students also benefit from opportunities to access the university’s extensive professional networks, which connect them with industry opportunities both on campus and beyond.
These include a wealth of social and CV-building opportunities like UTS Tech Fest, the university’s annual engineering and IT student showcase, and the Playmakers student game development society, which Samuel joined in his first year at UTS.
“With Playmakers, we have lots of different events for game development. One of them is game jams, which are hackathons where you make a game within a time limit either alone or with a team,” he says.
“We also have student-run workshops, and guest speakers and lectures from people in the industry.”
Samuel Coa runs a workshop for the Playmakers society
Together, this mix of industry networking and formal and informal skills development have driven Samuel’s rapid transformation from a wannabe developer into an award-winning game creator.
Among his many achievements is Armless Samurai, a first-person parkour game that he co-created as part of the student-led Playmaker Development Team (PDT) games studio in 2023. Armless Samurai, which won the Initiative of the Year Award from ActivateUTS, has now been released on online games portal Steam.
That same year, Samuel and two of his peers presented another project called EchoRush at the Tech Fest engineering and IT showcase, unaware that a representative from interactive media festival South by Southwest (SXSW) Sydney was in the audience.
The UTS students were invited to present EchoRush at SXSW Sydney 2023; the game, which was originally created as part of the UTS Game Design Methodologies elective, went on to win the festival’s Best Student Game award.
Samuel Coa and his team were winners of the SXSW Sydney 2023 Best Student Game award
Work hard, play harder
Samuel’s momentum hasn’t slowed since — this year, he was part of a five-member team that won Best Game Overall in the UTS Tech Fest Game Jam for Keyboard Catastrophe, a typing game that the team created in just two days. The team also took out a People’s Choice Award for a multiplayer game called MMMMMM: Multi-Merge Mix & Match Minigame Mayhem.
Samuel Coa presents his game Keyboard Catastrophe at the Tech Fest engineering and IT showcase 2024
All these experiences now form part of Samuel’s impressive professional portfolio, which will be vital to showcasing his achievements to prospective employers.
“For people looking for a career in the games industry, it’s very important to have a portfolio of the different software and games you’ve developed,” he says.
“This is to show employers that the skills I have learned at university have actually been applied to real products and real projects.”
Samuel Coa and his team receiving the Best Game Overall award at the UTS Tech Fest awards ceremony in the Great Hall
Whether he winds up needing the safety net of software engineering remains to be seen, but he’s enjoying the study of his core subjects too. Like his game-focused electives, the software engineering subjects also include extensive opportunities for real-world application.
Recently, Samuel completed a three-month internship as part of the Optik Engineering Consultancy, a UTS-led program that connects groups of students with real clients seeking engineering solutions for business challenges. It was an experience that gave him a taste of the other career path he might eventually take.
But there are still 18 months to go before he has to make any big decisions. And in that time, he’s got some big plans lined up: he’s now the Vice President of Playmakers and is currently leading this year’s PDT team of over 35 students. Later this year, he’ll also be back at SXSW Sydney presenting a new game to an audience of industry leaders.
His chance at the big time isn’t over yet — in fact, it’s just beginning.
Ready to fulfil your passions whilst achieving your goals? Explore the UTS student experience today.