Alexander Stokes

Alexander Stokes’ interest in digital problem-solving was first sparked while playing Minecraft as a child.

“I found you could apply that sort of thinking to create a visible and practical output and that was what clicked for me. That fun puzzles could actually be useful.”

After finishing NCEA early at high school, he enrolled to study Software Engineering at Waikato. The proximity to home, wide range of scholarships available and the networks he had built up in Hamilton were major drawcards, but family experiences had also shown him what Waikato could offer.

“My grandfather was one of the original students at Waikato, my sister was also studying there, and my brother had gone down a similar track in Computer Science, so I knew the University had a quality programme and produced well-rounded graduates.”

His study included a mix of technical skills and building a fundamental understanding of technology theory and algorithms – “you need the fundamentals before you can be fancy” – and some more unique papers.

He specifically highlights a Smoke and Mirrors project run by Professor David Bainbridge in COMPX241 Software Engineering Development, which used experimentation to solve creative puzzles and connected back to Alexander’s Minecraft days. A new digital entrepreneurship paper, part of COMPX397 Work-Integrated Learning, gave him the opportunity to connect with, and learn from, entrepreneurs in the tech sector.

Industry is more than just key knowledge, it’s about practical application and how you can collaborate with different people and backgrounds. The Bachelor of Engineering in Software Engineering is good at teaching technical communication and giving you exposure across disciplines.

Now working full-time as a software developer at Visa, Alexander has also been combining his interest in programming with his second passion – national hockey umpiring – to create solutions for different hockey clubs across New Zealand.

He encourages both future and current students in Computer Science and Software Engineering to do the same.

“Learn to be relational as well as technical, because that’s where people will find value with you, and supplement your study with personal projects. A lot of the papers are ‘Introductions to…’. Grab those entry points, find your interests, and go deeper.”