Industrial Placement at Accenture UK, London
Summer Internship thereafter at Japan Railways (East), Tokyo
Role – Junior Software Engineer
Why did I do a placement?
To develop my technical (specifically programming) skills that I had learnt in the first two years of university. I wanted to get a sense of how the modules I was studying and assignments I was doing at university would help me develop software when working in the industry.
I also wanted to put some effort in to securing a graduate job before starting the final year of my university and at the time it seemed like working at a large multinational company for my placement year might help me get one.
When did I start applying and how many places did I apply for?
I started applying for placements during October time back in my second year. I applied to about 30-40 places at least over the course of 4-5 months, was a bit slow and disorganised at the start and didn’t keep track of deadlines so missed some for the companies that I really wanted to apply to.
Tip: The ideal time to start applying would be around September when you are in your second year!
How was the application experience?
The application experience varied a lot from company to company, especially with the types of questions asked in their application forms and for cover letters, but thankfully the process of recruitment as a whole was really similar for every place that I applied to – I would normally fill out an application form and upload my CV to the job portals of the companies I was interested in working for, if selected, would be asked to do some sort of interview (either skype, telephonic or video) where they would ask stuff from a generic set of questions – what would I bring to the table if they select me, why am I interested in working for them, etc. and the last stage of process being assessment centers.
I personally found the idea of going through such an intense process of recruitment a bit scary at the start, but I started enjoying answering the questions, presenting about myself and even assessment centers way faster than I thought I would!
One thing where I put a lot of effort in when applying was writing cover letters – I wanted to make sure that I’d have details specific to the place I was applying for so they would know that I have put in the effort to get through the selection rounds!
Tip: Try to NOT send in one generic CV for every single company that you apply to! I made sure that I was highlighting the relevant projects and my skill set based on the job roles I was applying for!
What help did you get from the university when applying?
I got a lot of help from the Careers Service at the university when I was drafting my CV and Cover Letters – from what I remember I think I went at least 3-4 times just to get my CV checked before I started sending out applications!
I also followed the School of Computing Twitter page and Blog as well as Careers Service’s Vacancies Online website throughout my second year to keep a track of all the placement openings.
We also had to create a CV and cover letter as a part of CSC2022 module assignment which I then used to send out with applications.
Tip: Keep an eye out for placement sessions (mock interviews/assessment centres) organised by the Careers Service and take their help when drafting your CVs and Cover Letters, they have got loads of resources available that can help you find a placement!
What work did you do over the course of your placement year?
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Managed Infrastructure management for a client where I had to ensure all the network connectivity and firewalls for their systems were in place.
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Worked on Blockchain Developing for a few months on R3 Corda which is an open source blockchain platform which involved developing the blockchain back-end for a system in Kotlin as well as front-end for a web app written in Angular/TypeScript.
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Performance tested the blockchain system developed by using Gatling.
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Worked on UI Testing for a couple of months.
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Went to a bunch of universities all over the UK for various events including Hackathons, mock interviews and
How was the overall experience of doing a placement?
I worked really hard during the 12 months of my placement and gained some really good industry experience during my time at Accenture – which then also helped me get a summer internship with Japan Railways (East) in Tokyo! I also saved up quite a bit of money which I am now using in my final year for my living expenses, so it was a very good experience taking a year out and exploring what all options there are in the industry for when I graduate and start working!
I also like the fact that I am only about 5 months into my final year at university and already have a graduate job offer starting later this year, which I think would have been difficult to get have I not had all the work experience that I gained while on placement.