Employability Portfolio for a UK Placement Search.
This portfolio presents my professional profile, skills, work examples, education, CV, contact details, placement goals, and work process. It has been developed as part of my CSYM036 Career Futures: Employability Skills assessment.
Assessment Details
Assessment Title: Employability Portfolio
Name: Mian Jamal Shah
Student ID: 25827767
Module Code: CSYM036
Module: Career Futures: Employability Skills
Tutor: Apkar Salatian
Target Role: Software Developer / Web Developer Placement
Location: Northampton, United Kingdom
1. Photo and Professional Introduction
This section introduces who I am, what I am currently studying, and the type of career path I am preparing for.
Professional Introduction
I am an MSc Computing student at the University of Northampton with a background in software engineering, computer science research, teaching, and practical web development. My work includes Laravel applications, PHP/MySQL projects, Python Streamlit apps, AI-related research, cybersecurity practice, and AWS deployment.
I am currently preparing for a UK placement role where I can apply my technical skills, improve my professional development practice, and gain experience working on real software systems.
Career Interest
I am interested in software development, web development, full-stack development, AI-related applications, and cybersecurity-focused systems. I enjoy building practical applications that solve real problems and help users complete tasks more efficiently.
2. About Me
This section explains more about my background, motivation, and the personal qualities I bring to a placement role.
My Background
My academic background combines software engineering and computer science. I completed postgraduate research in deep learning and food image classification, and I have experience teaching Computer Science, developing web applications, and working with digital business processes.
My experience as a lecturer helped me improve my communication, explanation, and presentation skills. My operational work helped me understand client requirements, documentation, service delivery, and practical problem-solving in a business environment.
My Motivation
I am motivated by practical technology. I like building applications that can be tested, used, improved, and explained clearly. This portfolio itself is part of that approach because it is not only a website, but a database-driven system with an admin panel, live deployment, domain setup, and SSL configuration.
I want to use my placement year to become more confident in professional software development, teamwork, version control, testing, deployment, and communication with technical and non-technical users.
3. Skills
My skills are grouped by category and managed dynamically through the admin panel. My strongest areas are web development, database-backed applications, Python-based tools, AI-related project work, and deployment.
Cloud & Deployment
AWS · 70%Database
MySQL · 75%Frontend
HTML/CSS · 85% JavaScript · 70%Programming
PHP · 80% Python · 80%Version Control
GitHub · 75%Web Application
Streamlit · 70%Web Development
Laravel · 80%4. Work Examples and Projects
These projects provide practical evidence of my technical ability. They show my experience with web development, cybersecurity practice, intelligent systems, AI research, deployment, and database-backed applications.
Deep Learning / Computer Vision
Food Image Classification System
A deep learning-based food image classification project using CNN models to classify food images and support food recognition research.
Artificial Intelligence / Intelligent Systems
Multimodal Sensitive Information Risk Detection App
An intelligent systems application that detects sensitive information and potential privacy risks from text and image inputs using multimodal AI concepts.
Cyber Security / Web Application
Internet Security FD Data Protection Lab
A security lab demonstrating AES encryption, RSA key management, password hashing, TLS certificate generation, and ISO 27001 mapping.
5. Work Experience
My experience includes teaching, operational coordination, client communication, technical documentation, and software project development.
IT and Admin
Elite Wash Laundry · Doha, Qatar
Jun 2025 - Mar 2026
• Managed the company website and supported the implementation of technical solutions for daily operations. • Handled corporate client communications and drafted formal business proposals. • Maintained digital records and improved administrative workflows using academic computer science knowledge.
Computer Science Lecturer
Islamia College Chakdara · Pakistan
Aug 2023 - Feb 2025
Taught Computer Science to HSSC students and Diploma in Information Technology learners. Delivered lessons on programming, computing concepts, and practical IT skills. This experience improved my presentation, mentoring, communication, and technical explanation skills.
6. Education
My academic background supports my target role in computing, software development, AI-related applications, and web technologies.
MSc Computing (Placement route)
University of Northampton · United Kingdom
2026 - Present
Currently studying MSc Computing with a placement route. My focus includes software development, employability skills, internet security, intelligent systems, database-backed applications, and practical web development projects.
MPhil Computer Science
University of Malakand · Pakistan
2021 - 2024
Completed postgraduate research in Computer Science with a focus on deep learning and food image classification. My thesis explored comparative deep learning techniques for evaluating food safety using CNN-based models and image classification datasets.
BS Software Engineering
Cecos University of IT and Emerging Sciences · Pakistan
2015 - 2019
Studied software engineering principles, programming, databases, web development, software design, and computing fundamentals. This degree built the foundation for my technical and research work.
7. CV
My CV provides a fuller summary of my education, technical skills, project work, employment background, and placement readiness.
View or Download My CV
The CV page includes a viewable PDF and download option for employers, placement teams, and academic review.
8. Contact Details and Professional Links
This section provides ways for employers, tutors, and placement teams to contact me or view my professional work.
Contact Details
Email: jamalshah963@gmail.com
Location: Northampton, United Kingdom
Contact Form: Send a message through the website
9. Work Placement Target
This section explains the kind of placement I am looking for, what I want to gain from it, and what I can offer to an employer.
Type of Placement I Am Looking For
I am looking for a placement in software development, web development, full-stack development, AI-related applications, or cybersecurity-focused systems. I am interested in roles where I can work with real users, contribute to database-backed applications, write clean code, test features, document my work, and learn professional development practices.
What I Want to Gain
I want to gain UK workplace experience, improve my teamwork and communication skills, understand professional software workflows, and build confidence in delivering software to a high standard. I also want to improve my use of Git, deployment processes, testing, documentation, and collaboration with experienced developers.
What I Can Offer
I can offer practical coding ability, database knowledge, research experience, documentation skills, problem-solving, and a strong willingness to learn. My portfolio shows that I can build, deploy, and maintain a working web application using Laravel, Filament, MySQL, GitHub, AWS, DNS, and SSL.
10. My Work Process
This section explains how I usually approach technical work and project development.
Understand the Problem
I start by identifying the purpose of the system, the target users, and the main problem the project needs to solve. This helps me avoid building features without a clear purpose.
Plan the Structure
I break the project into pages, database tables, user actions, routes, models, and admin features. This helps me work step by step instead of making random changes.
Build and Test
I develop features gradually, test them locally, check the database, fix errors, and review the result in the browser before moving on to the next part.
Improve and Deploy
I improve layout, content, and usability before deployment. I use GitHub for version control and AWS for live hosting where suitable.
11. Supportive Information
Additional evidence that supports my employability, technical development, and placement readiness.
- Built and deployed this portfolio using Laravel, Filament, MySQL, GitHub, AWS Lightsail, Route 53, Apache, and SSL.
- Created a dynamic admin panel to manage projects, skills, education, experience, and contact messages.
- Developed project evidence in cybersecurity, intelligent systems, web development, and food image classification.
- Applied GitHub-based version control and AWS server deployment workflow.
- Gained experience with DNS records, domain setup, HTTPS configuration, and production Laravel deployment.
- Academic background includes deep learning, computer vision, food safety applications, and software engineering.
12. Reflection and Next Steps
This section reflects on how building this portfolio has supported my employability development.
What I Improved
Building this portfolio improved my ability to plan, develop, deploy, and maintain a professional web application. I strengthened my Laravel, MySQL, Filament, GitHub, AWS Lightsail, DNS, SSL, and server configuration skills. I also improved how I present my projects, experience, and technical strengths to employers.
What I Learned About Employability
I learned that employability is not only about listing technical skills. A strong portfolio needs clear evidence, professional communication, working project links, a suitable CV, and a clear explanation of the type of role I am targeting. This website now gives employers a direct way to review my skills, projects, background, and contact details.
Next Steps
My next steps are to keep improving the portfolio with more completed projects, update my CV as I gain new experience, apply for software development and web development placement roles, and continue building technical evidence through practical applications. I will also improve each project case study by adding screenshots, GitHub links, live demos, and clearer explanations of the problem, solution, tools used, and outcome.