Author: Maisie Alicia Eddleston

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Gaining experience for your CV

Finding an internship with no experience can be tricky, especially when applying to a big company. However, there are ways in which you can improve your CV at university without any prior experience and gain skills employers are looking for. 

Join a society

Joining a society can help develop many relevant skills for the workplace. Attending a career-based society will show your interest in the field beyond what you are learning on your course. It could also help you further develop your technical skills through different events such as Hackathons and Capture the Flags, which can also be written on your CV. Alternatively, applying for a role on a society committee will demonstrate leadership and organisational skills.

However, joining any society which you are interested in will demonstrate that you are a well-rounded individual and will help employers determine if you’d be the right fit for the company.

NUSU has two computer science related societies, Cyber Society and the Computing And Technology Society which are definitely worth joining if you haven’t already.

Virtual experience

Another way to gain experience is with virtual internships. Many big companies have courses which you can enrol on for free, including J.P.Morgan, Accenture and Visa. This will be advantageous if you decide to apply for internships at these companies, as you will have already demonstrated that you have the relevant skills they are looking for. It will also give a talking point in interviews and show you have taken initiative to learn more about the company.

Forage has an extensive catalog of virtual internships you can apply for. You can find out more from this blog post here.

Alternatively, Bright Network also has a virtual internship experience each year and many other events throughout the year with many big employees joining to give advice and network with. You can find them here.

They also have a list of employer-led career events which is worth checking frequently. You can find them here.

Volunteer

Volunteering is an opportunity to do good for your community whilst also gaining different experiences that you wouldn’t at university. It will demonstrate you have skills such as teamwork, communication, and self-motivation. You could volunteer in your field of study, using your technical skills to help others. This will show employers that you are passionate about your degree and want to expand your knowledge further. You will also have the opportunity to meet and network with other people in your local community with similar interests.

NUSU has plenty of different volunteering positions including technology-based roles, such as working as a STEM ambassador for the Altitude Foundation.

Create your own project

If you’re trying to show certain technical skills on your CV but aren’t sure how, you could create your own programming project to demonstrate these. This could be based on something you had learnt about at university and wanted to learn about further. Alternatively, this could be based on your interests outside of university. For example, producing a project to solve a problem. Either way, it helps an employer see what you are passionate about and shows interest beyond university study. These can be kept in a programming portfolio on Github to show your employer via a link.

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Tips for your placement year

Hi, I’m Maisie and I’m in my final year at Newcastle University studying computer science. Last year, I did my placement with Deep Secure, a cyber security company which provides cyber security defence products to businesses. I worked in the research team as a research assistant for the company. I will be returning to Deep Secure next year to work as a software engineer.

I learnt a lot during my internship and throughly enjoyed it. Below is a list of skills that helped me during my placement to get the most out of the experience. I hope this will be helpful if you are planning on doing a placement year.

Ask questions

One of the most important things I learnt during my internship was to ask questions. You are not expected to know everything and it is an invaluable opportunity to learn from others who have more experience than you. However, I found it is important to have done an appropriate amount of research before this, so you can ask more specific, purposeful questions. Asking questions was especially important when I was working independently, to help prevent feeling out of my depth. I did this by firstly asking for clarity if needed when given a new project proposal. This ensured I fully understood the requirements of the project. Then, at appropriate milestones, I made sure to ask for feedback from other team members to ensure I was reaching their expectations of what they wanted from the product. This helped me produce a more successful project.

Express what you projects you enjoy

Another thing I made sure to do when on my internship was to express what projects I had particularly enjoyed working on. This showed my enthusiasm for the role and I was then considered for similar projects which I also enjoyed. Similarly, I also expressed the skills I wanted to gain from my internship that aligned with my role in the company. For example, I was given the opportunity to give multiple presentations after expressing wanting to improve my communication skills. This helped me get the most out of my internship and learn new, different skills which I could not at university.

You don’t need to know everything

At the start of my internship, I was nervous that I might not know everything needed for my role. I would be using the programming language, Go, which was new to me. However, I did not need to be concerned, as my manager knew my starting level and aided me with my learning, by giving me projects gradually increasing in difficulty. I realised that the most important thing was just to get stuck into projects with enthusiasm, research was expected of me and I didn’t need to know everything initially. And of course, as before, it was perfectly okay to ask for help when needed. After a few weeks of my internship, I felt more comfortable in my role and had picked up most of the skills needed.

Be self-motivated

During my internship, I worked remotely, most of the time working on independent projects. Therefore self-motivation was very important skill for me to develop. I learnt to do this in a few ways. Firstly, I would set myself realistic daily objectives that I wanted to achieve. This helped me stay on track with project development and also helped with check-ins with my manager as I could easily show what I had accomplished and the progress that had been made to a project. Secondly, I tried to make the best use of my spare time and be proactive with tasks. Examples of this included updating older coding projects as my programming skills improved and researching different programming libraries which could be useful for upcoming projects. This way, I was able to show my manager I was able to take initiative and make the best use of my time.

Get to know the whole team

As I previously mentioned, I worked remotely during my internship. Therefore, getting to know all of my other team members was difficult. However, I tried to network with as many team members as possible. I met people on the sales team, the software engineering team, the research team and those in leadership. People in these different roles had different skills I could learn from and I was able to gain more experience. I was also able to learn more about the structure of the company and find out what departments I enjoyed. As well as this, it also just made my experience at the company more enjoyable and I am looking forward to going back.

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Placement Opportunities with DSTL

Applications are now open for both summer placements and 1-year industrial placements at DSTL (Defence Science and Technology Laboratory). To find out more about the opportunities at DSTL, we interviewed Nic Ingram who has just returned from a year in industry with DSTL to complete his final year at Newcastle University.

Who did you do your placement with? And what does the company do?

I did my placement with DSTL. They sustain and grow science and technology capabilities that must remain in government, and help develop capabilities that are managed elsewhere, for example, in industry and academia.

How did you apply for the placement?

I applied through the Gov.uk website.

What was your favourite part of the placement?

We did some fun hacking events which allowed me to develop useful skills and try something new.

How was the overall experience of doing a placement?

Overall, I really enjoyed the placement and made lots of new friends and contacts, all whilst developing my own personal skills.

Find out more about DSTL placements and apply here: https://www.gov.uk/guidance/graduates-students-and-apprentices-at-dstl

If you have any questions about applying for a placement, you can email Nic: n.a.ingram1@newcastle.ac.uk

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CRSI Placement Opportunities

CRSI are a consultancy business that works with the most innovative start-ups in tech and science.

They are currently offering placements for the next academic year for students interested in science,  innovation, business, or technology.

This would be ideal for Computer Science students currently in second year preparing for a year in industry, who want experience in the business sector. 

Apply now:

https://crsi.applytojob.com/apply

Find out more about placements at CRSI here:

https://www.crsi.team/graduates-and-placements

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Finding a placement with the EDT

Returning from a year in industry with Polygeist, we interviewed Joe Bainbridge to discuss his placement and his experience finding it through the EDT.

Who did you do your placement with? And what does the company do?

I did my placement with a company named Polygeist who specialise in using artificial intelligence in innovative ways.

What was your role in the company?

My job title was ‘technologist intern’ – this was a very broad role as it is a small company with only 5 other people working there. I did work in many different areas of the company, and worked alongside everybody at different points throughout my time there.

How did the EDT help you find your placement and how did you apply?

EDT made the process of finding my placement very easy. I first did an interview with EDT, and with their help, put together a structured CV. EDT then sent me emails whenever a relevant placement opportunity came up. If I was interested, they would send the company my CV, and if successful, I would go through the interview stages.

What work did you do on your placement?

I worked on a variety of projects throughout my time there. This included researching and trying out open source AI projects to both benchmark against our projects, and test for feasibility for future projects. A lot of my projects also revolved around being given a problem or task to do, and going away and completing it using Python.

How did the EDT support you through your placement?

There was a lot of support offered from EDT during my placement, including meetings with my EDT mentor as frequently (or infrequently) as I wanted. On top of this, there were also many workshops offered, which aimed to improve a number of key skills such as communication and management.

How was the overall experience of doing a placement?

Overall, I really enjoyed my placement. It was invaluable experience being in a workplace environment and it has given me more confidence for going into a job after university. Additionally, I picked up and worked on many skills, such as teamwork and new programming skills, which will benefit me both at university and when entering the job market.

What would you say to someone considering doing a placement?

I would say not to worry about getting a placement straight away as I got mine at the end of July, and to make sure you do something that you’re interested in and will find enjoyable.

The EDT Placement Scheme is ideal for students looking for paid placements lasting between 10-12 months in computing, science, engineering, business, marketing and finance.

Applications are now open for the placement year 23/24:

https://www.etrust.org.uk/yini-register

They also have online open day events to find out more about the EDT placement scheme. The next event is on Wednesday 18th January 2023 and you can register here:

https://www.etrust.org.uk/yini-careers-events