The course that I am studying, G401 Computer Science, included a mandatory year in industry as our third year, our fourth year being the last year of teaching. Although it is possible to not do the year in industry, I can see nothing but positives to be gained from a year being immersed into the real world of work, gaining vital and valuable experience about the field of employment you may wish to pursue for the foreseeable future. As well as earning some money to go towards paying back our University fees, it gives a chance for employers to get to know you, and for you to demonstrate your natural abilities and work ethics in a more genuine environment over the course of the placement, rather than under pressure in a short hour long interview.
Upon hearing about industrial year placements, and discovering the benefits mentioned above, I decided that it would be a very good idea, and when the second year started, I began researching the companies and placements that interested me, earlier than the majority of my colleagues. Why so early? Knowing that sometimes placements get filled before their application deadlines, and being the sort of person that likes back-up options and fall-back plans as standard, I started preparing my CV for the applications. I started off by applying to the places I really wanted to work for, such as Google, Intel and HP. I also then applied to about another 4 companies or so, to ensure I had enough back-up options I was not successful in obtaining one of my preferred placements.
I started applying for these placements in late November last year, after our University trip to Gregynog [where employers helped us improve our CV's and interview techniques]. It is now February, and I still have not heard from many companies, however I have heard from a few, and a few important ones…
I was relatively sure I would not hear from Peugeot-Citeroen, as their application website kept loosing my progress, and not submitting my application. Despite creating a new account, and trying again – still no luck as the site threw errors and lost my progress. HP said they were very busy, as they had many applications. ProspectSoft gave me a phone interview and a coding challenge a while back, but I have since heard nothing from them. Gloversure offered me an interview very recently. Those were mainly my back-up choices, running along side my preferred applications.
Intel gave me a phone interview, online test, and I also attended an assessment centre. It provided me with great experience, and I was offered the placement there, which did look brilliant, but I was still pursuing the Google internship, the one I really wanted more than anything. My trip down to Google last summer for the Google BOLD immersion programme had made me see what a clever, logical and innovative company Google was, and I knew that I would love to be a part of their team.
I have now been offered an Internship with Google, and can’t wait to go to work for them. I really look forward to going somewhere where I can be happy, make a difference, and have my innovative, logical ideas listened to, ideas that can save time, money and other resources. I have found it frustrating in the past to see the companies that employ me waste money where there is no need, and are unwilling to listen to other’s advice. I am now very much looking forward to July, where new experiences, people and knowledge will be found.
Matt out.
Matt
