A TECHNICAL REPORT ON STUDENTS’

INDUSTRIAL WORK EXPERIENCE

SCHEME (SIWES)
PREPARED BY

AJIBOLA, OLASUNKANMI OPEYEMI

(17/52HL024)

APRIL 2020 TO OCTOBER 2020

OBSERVED AT
BROOKES SOFTWARE PROFESSIONAL SERVISES LIMITED
5th Floor, Kay Plaza, 12, Lalubu Street, Oke-Ilewo, Abeokuta, Ogun State.
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OVERVIEW
This technical report majorly captures the work done and the experience gathered
during my six-month SIWES placement at Brookes Software Professional Services
Limited, Oke-ilewo, Abeokuta, Ogun State.

My duty while on this skill training programme cut across different Information
Technology fields including but not limited to:

▪ Frontend development using tools like HTML, CSS, JavaScript, ReactJS,

NextJS, and a bit of Laravel.

▪ Contract Proposal and Software Requirement Specifications writing for the

organization which actually earned the firm more than two contracts.

▪ Data management using Microsoft Excel.

▪ Logo and header designs for web development.

Within this period, I verifiably sharpened my Web App / Website development skills
and learnt a lot on how to market and monetize my skills in the IT world. I was also
exposed to SaaS (Software as a Service) which is another lucrative way to triumph
in the industry.

This report, therefore, analyses and presents the skills acquired; and further points
out how essential the programme is in preparing students for the world after school,
and equipping them with marketable skills required to sustain out there.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
OVERVIEW .............................................................................................................1
CHAPTER ONE ......................................................................................................4
INTRODUCTION....................................................................................................4
1.1 Background....................................................................................................4
1.2 Objectives of the Scheme ..............................................................................5
CHAPTER TWO .....................................................................................................6
DESCRIPTION OF THE ESTABLISHMENT OF ATTACHMENT ...............6
2.1 Location and Brief History of the Establishment ..........................................6
2.2 Objectives of the Company ...........................................................................6
2.3 Organizational Structure (Organogram) .......................................................7
Figure 2.0 Organogram ......................................................................................7
2.4 Departments in the Establishment .................................................................7
CHAPTER THREE .................................................................................................9
TASKS CARRIED OUT AND EXPERIENCE GAINED ...................................9
3.1 Some Tasks on Microsoft Word (Software Requirement Specs) .................9
Figure 3.1 Snapshot from Database Report .....................................................10
3.2 Some Tasks on Microsoft Excel (Data Correction) ...................................10
3.3 Some Tasks on Web Design and Development ..........................................10
Figure 3.2 Snapshot of NSCDC Cooperative website .....................................11
Figure 3.2 The Header Logo designed .............................................................11
3.4 Marketing Task............................................................................................12
3.5 Collaboration on Git/GitHub .......................................................................12
CHAPTER FOUR ..................................................................................................13
PROJECTS BUILT, TOOLS USED, AND EXPERIENCE GAINED ............13
4.1 Number Checker Using Flutter ...................................................................13
Figure 4.0 Snapshots from Number Checker ...................................................14
4.2 CGPA Calculator Using ReactJS ................................................................14

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Figure 4.1 ReactJS Architecture ......................................................................15

Figure 4.2 Snapshots from CGPA Calculator ..................................................16
4.3 A Professional Portfolio Using ReacJS and MaterialUI .............................16
Figure 4.3 Snapshots from the portfolio ..........................................................17
4.4 Flight-time Schedule Inspector using ReactJS and React Bootstrap ..........18
Figure 4.4 Snapshots from Flight-time Inspector ............................................19
4.5 Business Landing Page using NextJS .........................................................19
Figure 4.5 Snapshot of a Business Landing Page on
https://www.thevenditt.com ............................................................................20
CHAPTER FIVE....................................................................................................21
SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS ......................21
5.1 Summary......................................................................................................21
5.2 Problem Encountered ..................................................................................21
5.3 Suggestion for Improvement of SIWES .....................................................22

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CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
The Students’ Industrial Work Experience Scheme (SIWES) is a skill acquisition
programme which has become part of academic standards in many Nigerian Tertiary
Institutions’ degree programmes. It was established in 1973 by Industrial Training
Fund (ITF), to expose students to various industrial practical activities such as
handling and operating equipment which they may not have the opportunity to learn
during campus activities only.

1.1 Background
It has become a necessity and government’s education policy in most higher
institutions in Nigeria that every student should go through this industrial training
before they can be awarded either a Diploma or a Bachelor’s Degree specifically in
technical, engineering, applied science, and educational disciplines.

Over the years, this programme has evidently been the solution to the common
problem students have after graduation – lack of practical exposure and relevant
skills in their various fields. SIWES has made various students realize how relevant
their course of study is, in the current labour market. This is indeed a privilege for
students as they get to have a glimpse of what they will be dealing with after
graduation.

The ITF and their coordinating agencies such as NUC, NCCE, and NBTE, in
agreement with some industries and other employers of labour, are the core operators
of this scheme, while it is fully funded by the Federal Government of Nigeria. The
undergraduates of Medical Science, Education, Other Sciences, Technology,
Agriculture, and Environmental fields are the major beneficiaries of the programme,
and the duration varies between three months to six months.
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1.2 Objectives of the Scheme

As outlined in the Industrial Training Fund’s policy Document No.1 of 1973, SIWES
primary objectives are itemized as follows:

❖ To ensure students practically explore their interest in their chosen career

before getting indulged in it as a permanent career.

❖ To get students ready for the industrial work situations that await them after
school.

❖ To ensure no student of higher institutions lacks industrial skills and the

necessary experience during their course of study.

❖ To provide students with an avenue to handle and operate equipment and

machinery relevant to their course of study which their institutions may not
have.

❖ To enhance students’ transitioning from school to the outside world, and get
them fully ready not only theoretically but also practically – bridging the gap
between theory and practical.

❖ To carry industries and other employers of labour along in students’

educational process.

❖ To ensure students are familiar with the technological innovations in their

different fields and professions.

❖ To ensure that the skills acquired by students are relevant to their careers.

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CHAPTER TWO
DESCRIPTION OF THE ESTABLISHMENT OF ATTACHMENT
2.1 Location and Brief History of the Establishment
Brookes Software Professional Services Limited is a technology company currently
located in Abeokuta, Ogun State. It was founded in the year 2015 by the Managing
Director, Mr Kayode Odunlami. Just like many other private organisations, Brookes
was birthed as a profit-oriented firm but has over time yielded a lot of benefits to its
immediate environment in form of services.

Having used more than four years in existence, the tech company has proven itself
in the Information Technology industry by earning the trusts of both private and
public sectors like Ogun State Ministry of Agriculture, Ogun State Ministry of Lands,
Federal University of Agriculture Abeokuta, Ibara Mortgage Bank, and so on.

Brookes began by providing software to clients in need (financial organisations

specifically), and also software development training to the dedicated youths who
are longing to be software developers. As time went on, Brookes dived into SaaS
(Software as a Service), thereby solving people’s problems with software service
subscriptions.

2.2 Objectives of the Company

➢ To provide easy-to-use software solutions to society.

➢ To digitize the already existing manual or mechanical solutions.

➢ To breed competent software developers that can secure the future of

technology in society.

➢ To make living easier with the help of technology.

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2.3 Organizational Structure (Organogram)

MANAGING DIRECTOR

PRODUCT MANAGER MARKETING/STUDIES

MANAGER

PRODUCT FRONTEND BACKEND MARKETERS TUTORS

DESIGNER DEVELOPER ENGINEER
S
Figure 2.0 Organogram

2.4 Departments in the Establishment

✓ Product Design Department: This department oversees the look-and-feel of
the proposed products. It determines the User Interface and the User
Experience of the software to be developed.

✓ Developers Department: This department works hand-in-hand with the

designers to bring their designed interfaces to what a computer can understand
– mark-up language, styling sheet, and programming languages.

✓ Marketing Department: This department works around approaching

different organizations that are potential clients. They market the organization

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products and services and ensure the relationship between the firm and the
current clients are well managed and sustained.

✓ Studies Department: This department handles and controls the management

of trainees, the syllabus, and the necessary fees involved.

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CHAPTER THREE
TASKS CARRIED OUT AND EXPERIENCE GAINED
3.1 Some Tasks on Microsoft Word (Software Requirement Specs)
Pending my collaboration with the programmers, the marketing manager utilized my
writing skills by assigning series of proposal and SRS manuscripts to me to work on.
I crafted a professional SRS to Ogun State Ministry of Tourism on a web and mobile
system named Tourists Management and Documentation System (TMDS). The
SRC contained an introduction, the project summary, the current problem, project
scope, solution in view, and the financial quotations.

After the office won the project, I wrote several other proposals and SRS’s to
different corporate bodies, e.g., Federal University of Agriculture Abeokuta, UBA
Panseke Branch, Ogun State Ministry of Land, etc. I was also given access to a
client’s database (ICMA Database) to write a report on it. In all of these documents
written, my confidence was built and I learnt what it takes to construct an irresistible
proposal and the right approach to follow.

Figure 3.0 Snapshot from Software Requirement Specification

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Figure 3.1 Snapshot from Database Report

3.2 Some Tasks on Microsoft Excel (Data Correction)

Having discovered that I can also work with Microsoft Excel to a great extent, the
M.D gave me a huge file of a database excerpt that contained voluminous records
but with wrong dates. I was asked to edit the dates and update some other data in the
file. I started manually which was tedious and taking days, then he (the M.D) taught
me how to automate some part of it. I learnt different new Excel tricks while on this
task and that felt really great to me.

3.3 Some Tasks on Web Design and Development

I eventually joined the team of developers as a Junior Frontend Developer. My first
task was to design a new Header Logo for the then ongoing NSCDC Cooperatives
Portal and further manipulate some elements on the portal homepage. I came up with
the logo in Figure 3.3 below and the webpage itself appears in Figure 3.2.

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Subsequently, I worked on snippets of codes and application components like a web

form, footer, tables, navbar, and the likes. Figure 3.4 below depicts an example of a
code snippet for a registration form on Visual Studio Code.

Figure 3.2 Snapshot of NSCDC Cooperative website

Figure 3.2 The Header Logo designed

Figure 3.4 Snapshot of Visual Studio Code

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The projects mentioned in section 3.3 above were on the popular PHP framework,
Laravel. Therefore, working on them made me learn the basics of Laravel such as
routing, file system, and how pages are rendered in Laravel.

3.4 Marketing Task

I once followed the marketing manager to a marketing outreach where we
approached different organizations to inform them on what we do and how we can
help them. After marketing to two companies, he asked if I could do it alone which
I assured him that I would try. He described the next firm to me; it was an estate
management firm around the Ibara government house. I went alone, with the brief
experience I have gathered in the first two companies, I was able to attract the
company M.D in few minutes. She got our company card and promised to reach out
whenever our service might be needed. It was not that easy at first, but all I applied
was little courage and everything else took care of itself. I gained more confidence
in myself and felt more professional in the field.

3.5 Collaboration on Git/GitHub

At a point, especially during the lockdown, we had to work from home for a long
time. We were made to learn Git and GitHub so we could efficiently work remotely.
Git is a free distributed version control system. It is used to keep detailed tracks of
codes and enables all authenticated developers to make traceable changes. It is meant
for remote collaborative work among developers. While GitHub is a code-hosting
platform primarily used to manage Git repositories.

Using a video tutorial (Git Tutorial for Beginners) by a YouTube tutor popularly
known as Mosh, I added Git and GitHub to my bag of skills which I used to
participate in many projects.

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CHAPTER FOUR
PROJECTS BUILT, TOOLS USED, AND EXPERIENCE GAINED
4.1 Number Checker Using Flutter
Within the period of my SIWES placement, I cropped out time to improve on what
I had learnt during the Tech Nexus programme organized by the department in the
first semester. I built a mobile app whose snapshot appears in figure 4.0 below. The
app is like a simple calculator that checks if the number typed in is even, odd, prime,
or any combination. What is Flutter?

Flutter is a User Interface framework created and open-sourced by Google for the
convenient development of native mobile applications on different Operating
Systems. Flutter was released in May 2017 and its primary advantage is the ability
to build mobile applications for several engines such as iOS and Android from the
same language and codebase. Just as other frameworks are built on a specific
programming language, Flutter is built on Dart language which is another product
from Google. Dart is a class-based Object-Oriented Programming Language similar
to Java and JavaScript. It can be used to write mobile and web applications including
server-side functionalities.

Building this simple app really brushed up my logical reasoning of how

programming works. There are many conditional statements behind the app which
can easily conflict one another, but after several refactorization and thinking, I was
able to get it working perfectly. The app gave me confidence in my fundamental
knowledge of Flutter.

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Figure 4.0 Snapshots from Number Checker

4.2 CGPA Calculator Using ReactJS

Having taken some courses on ReactJS, I built a web-based app for calculating both
university and polytechnic students’ Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA)
using ReactJS. This app only collects the grades and units of courses from the user
and outputs the CGPA value immediately. Taking the core advantage of ReactJS,
the app needs only one-time loading and it will continue to function properly in the
clients’ device. This app’s fast functionality is achieved due to how ReactJS works
using React DOM. What is ReactJS?

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ReactJS or simply React is an open-source User Interface tool created by Facebook.

This JavaScript library was released in May 2013 and has since then gained ground
in the world of web development. React’s major goal is to achieve a swift web
surfing experience without having to fetch data from the server every time a client
routes or needs a new page. It is majorly popular for building SPA’s (Single Page
Applications) where the contents of the page dynamically per user request, giving
the illusion of the traditional file-based routing. It is one of the best options when
one needs a web app that doesn’t constantly or frequently depend on some data from
a database. React virtual DOM serves as an intermediary between the webpage and
the real DOM.

Figure 4.1 ReactJS Architecture

I hosted the CGPA Calculator on netlify.com so that it can be assessed and used by
everyone (https://www.calcugp.netlify.com). Netlify is a Cloud Computing
organization located in San Francisco. They offer serverless backend and hosting

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services for static websites and web applications. Their services are free for basic
users.

Figure 4.2 Snapshots from CGPA Calculator

4.3 A Professional Portfolio Using ReacJS and MaterialUI

One day at work, the M.D had a session of Career in Tech talk with me and few
other junior developers. At the end of the talk, he advised us to build our individual
portfolios, and I started building mine the following day. After some days, I came
up with an SPA portfolio built on React, styled with MaterialUI. What is MaterialUI?
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Just like the famous CSS framework, Bootstrap, MaterialUI is another CSS
framework that makes the styling of webpages easier and faster. Unlike Bootsrap,
MaterialUI focuses on styling ReactJS applications. The documentation can be
checked on https://www.material-ui.com. I later hosted the portfolio on GitHub
Pages (https://www.geniushawlah.github.io).

Figure 4.3 Snapshots from the portfolio

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4.4 Flight-time Schedule Inspector using ReactJS and React

Bootstrap
One of my colleagues (a developer) linked me up with one of his friends who was
studying Aircraft Engineering in a school in the North. He wanted to build a web-
based app that can be used to schedule and inspect flight-time for pilots. He
described the app and I embarked on it. After few weeks, I came up with something
that got even better after reviews and corrections by him. This app really challenged
me because of the constant and frequent change in states. It made me learn more
about React state management and React Hooks. He eventually used the app which
can be checked on https://www.flight-time-inspector.netlify.com, to defend his
project successfully. Figure 4.4 below shows few snapshots from the app.

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Figure 4.4 Snapshots from Flight-time Inspector

4.5 Business Landing Page using NextJS

Taking instructions from the product manager, I developed a website for an
advertising company. It is a common Landing Page that tells more about the
company. It is an SPA as well. Why NextJS?
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NextJS is a framework built to amplify and make ReactJS better. Due to how
ReactJS sends only one root element to the server and uses JavaScript to fetch pages
(components) to be rendered, it became difficult or impossible for web spiders to
crawl React app pages, which is very bad for Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
This is one of the additions NextJS added to ReactJS out of the box, and that’s the
reason I opted for NextJS since the landing page needs to be properly indexed.

During this project, I learnt some animation packages like AOS (Animate On Scroll)
etc. I also realized that there are two other versions of Bootstrap specially built to be
used with ReactJS (React Bootstrap and React-strap).

Figure 4.5 Snapshot of a Business Landing Page on https://www.thevenditt.com

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CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY, CONCLUSIONS, AND RECOMMENDATIONS
5.1 Summary
The six months used at Brookes as a SIWES student was a journey that began slowly
and transited into something unforgettable. I was a useful tool in almost all the
departments ranging from marketing to product designing, and majorly with the
developers.

I worked on several projects both singlehandedly and in collaboration with others. I

also had personal projects which I used to polish my skills to maintain growth.

My service at Brookes attracted a token salary of ₦15,000.00 (Fifteen Thousand

Naira), which in the end, I earned a total amount of ₦75,000.00 (Seventy-five
Thousand Naira) because some months were not paid in full due to the lockdown
and lack of projects. At the end of my SIWES placement, I was asked to stay back
since the school was not resuming immediately which I agreed and worked for some
months more with an improved salary.

Conclusively, I honourably left Brookes as a better person professionally, and life-

wise.

5.2 Problem Encountered

❖ Overworking was one of the problems at Brookes. Mostly, the available
projects are more than the available staff members, which made us take office
works home oftentimes. This was a problem because it affected the time I
needed to focus on other phases of life.

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❖ Frequent scraping of an ongoing project was a huge issue for me. The product
manager could suddenly stop a project halfway and come up with an entirely
different design and idea. It was a turn-off for me and some other developers.

❖ The major tech stack used at Brookes was also a problem for me because I
have always wanted to be a JavaScript developer, but their major tech is based
on Laravel and C# which I had to amend my learning so I could fit in there
without missing out my personal goals.

5.3 Suggestion for Improvement of SIWES

Having gone through and understood what SIWES is and the benefits of the scheme,
I hereby suggest bellow:

▪ The time students use on the programme should be increased to maybe nine
months or a year to allow them to gain more experience before abruptly
returning to school.

▪ Extra reward such as marks should be awarded to students than earn from their
SIWES placements. This will encourage students to equip themselves with
one or two skills they can market during SIWES instead of blankly going to
serve irrelevant purposes/errands while on SIWES.

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