Build Something Real.
A two-week, fully-remote immersion in software engineering, artificial intelligence, cloud, cybersecurity, data and technology consulting — built to a professional standard, and achievable by you.
For two weeks, it's the way you'll think too.
Ten days. One product. A real portfolio.
You join a technology consultancy as part of an engineering pod and build a working client solution — the Smart Shopping Assistant for Riverside Malls — one layer at a time. Every day has a task brief, a full learning guide, and produces something you keep.
Guided, not lectured
Every day comes with a step-by-step learning guide and a task brief. You build real things and keep them.
Scored feedback
Submit your work, get rubric-based feedback, and revise and resubmit until you pass.
Stretched from where you start
A Core build everyone completes, and a Stretch track that goes deeper for those ready for it.
What you'll walk away with
Every objective is measured by something you build, not something you memorise. By Day 10 you'll have evidence for each one in your portfolio.
Learning outcomes
| Domain | You will be able to… | Evidenced by |
|---|---|---|
| Software engineering | Write, structure, test and version-control real Python and web apps | GitHub repos, commit history |
| Web & APIs | Build a responsive app and connect it to live data via REST APIs | Deployed front-end + integration |
| Data science | Clean, analyse and visualise a real dataset and draw defensible insight | Notebook + dashboard + memo |
| Artificial intelligence | Use and integrate modern AI responsibly, and build an AI feature | AI feature + prompt library |
| Cloud | Diagram cloud architecture on Azure and Google Cloud, and deploy a service | Diagrams + deployed service |
| Cybersecurity | Threat-model a system and fix common vulnerabilities | Threat model + hardened app |
| Mathematics | Apply algorithms, statistics, geometry and optimisation to real problems | Worked models + code |
| Consulting | Analyse a business problem and recommend a solution with a costed case | Consulting deck + model |
The capstone
"We're piloting Knull smart trolleys across our flagship centre. We want a Smart Shopping Assistant: a companion web app that helps shoppers find products and get intelligent suggestions, shows useful live store information, and gives our operations team a dashboard of trolley and footfall insight. Build us a working prototype, secure it sensibly, show us it runs in the cloud, and make the business case for rolling it out. You have two weeks."
How your work is assessed
| Strand | Weight | What it measures |
|---|---|---|
| Daily deliverables | 35% | Did the day's core outputs land, working and on time? |
| Capstone project | 40% | Quality, completeness and integration of the final solution |
| Engineering practice | 10% | Git hygiene, code clarity, documentation, testing |
| Reflection & professionalism | 10% | Journal quality, communication, conduct, initiative |
| Demo Day presentation | 5% | Clarity, composure, ability to explain and defend |
| Band | Range | Descriptor |
|---|---|---|
| Distinction | 80–100 | Exceeds the brief; independent and rigorous |
| Merit | 65–79 | Meets the brief well; solid and reliable |
| Pass | 50–64 | Meets the essentials with support |
| Developing | <50 | Progress made; more support needed |
The ten days
Each day has a theme, objectives, Core and Stretch tasks, the maths where it applies, exact deliverables and a reflection prompt. Open any day to read it and download both the task brief and the full learning guide.
Download, build, submit, get feedback
Download each day's learning guide and task brief, then submit your work when it's ready.
Daily submissions
Portfolio checklist
Everything, ready to download
All programme documents in professional formats. Learning guides and task briefs are PDFs; the journal and submission form are editable Word documents.