Category: Improving employability

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Placement Interview: Suryansh Singh, Andor Technology

Student name: Suryansh Singh 

Company name: Andor Technology (Under Oxford Instruments) 

Role: Software Engineering Placement Student 

Why did you decide to do a placement? 

There were two main reasons that led me to do a placement: I want to be job ready as soon as I graduate and having this placement experience will have help me significantly in that. 

My parents were able to finance the fees for my first two years at university. I want to use the salary from my placement to contribute to my final year of fees. 

What does your placement involve? What are your role responsibilities? 

My placement involves a wide range of tasks that a software engineer does. I am working with the main software development team, and my role is no different than the other developers. As an Intern I do need guidance sometimes, but the team are always on hand to help with any issues. 

I get assigned several tasks at the start of every sprint (a development run of 2 weeks) and then try to resolve all those tasks as quickly as possible. Once the development is done, I test my code on real devices in the lab – some of them are used by NASA and Nobel prize-winning scientists, etc. 

Do you have any advice to students who are looking for / applying for a placement? 

  • Start applying as soon as vacancies are open and apply to several placements to increase your chances, especially if you’re relying on the placement to finance your studies.  
  • Develop your computing CV through activities such as answering questions on Leetcode, increasing your proficiency in version control, and creating projects you can talk about at interview. 
  • Companies love hearing interns talk about AGILE methodologues and DevOps, so make sure to have a basic knowledge of them. 
  • Smile during your interview! 

You might get rejected during the application process, even from the online assessments but all you must do is learn from your mistakes, master these things, and move forward. I remember I got rejected from the first 20-30 applications I made but after a while I was clearing all the online assessments, had 3-4 interviews, and secured 2 offers. So, don’t let rejections demotivate you! 

What support have you had from the university before and during your placement? 

Newcastle University has been very helpful in terms of career support. Before the placement I completed 3 or 4 NCL Internships offered by the university and that really made my CV and profile look good. The MyCareer website lists tons of internships and tools and there is the ability to book CV counselling. 

The support from the placement team through email has also been amazing. I emailed them with lots of questions and they dealt with all of them kindly. 

What benefits will your placement have on your studies? 

Before starting the placement, I was considering what my final year project would be. I was a bit concerned about what I would be able to create as I didn’t feel confident in my coding skills. But after completing the first 4 months of my placement, I now feel so much more confident in my skills. 

I’m feeling really motivated about going forward into my last year at university as I’ll be able to use everything I’ve learnt during my placement in my final year project and other assignments. 

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Employer Interview: Enigma Interactive

Enigma Interactive are an award-winning specialist digital development agency based in Newcastle and London. 

What placement roles do you offer to Computer Science Undergraduates? 

We offer 12-month Developer placements to Computer Science and Software Engineering Graduates as part of their degree course. 

What do students work on during their placement? 

The work that our Placements do at Enigma will be varied, depending on the team and projects they are assigned to. This means, at times, it can be quite complex and require some level of R&D, whilst at other times, it may involve refining, maintenance and support. 

Work can include: 

  • Implementation of front-end user interfaces and experience based on graphic designs 
  • Implementation of server-side logic and code based on technical / functional specification 
  • Design and configuration of data storage / database schemes 
  • Peer to peer testing and review of work delivered by teammates 
  • Client communications – including requirement gathering, involvement in weekly calls and Programme Board meetings 

What are the key skills you’re looking for in students applying for placements? 

For Enigma, placement students would be creative developers who have the following skills (or at least a selection of them) 

  • knowledge of object-oriented languages such as Java or C# 
  • Knowledge of front-end web technologies such as VUE, SASS or LESS 
  • Knowledge of web server technology such as Nginx or Apache 
  • Knowledge of database technology such as MySQL or Hibernate 

However, having a positive attitude is key for our placements – those with the drive to learn new technologies and frameworks and the desire to contribute to a creative and collaborative multi-disciplined team are important. 

We look for students, much like our other employees, who are passionate, not afraid to challenge, analytical and supportive. 

In a nutshell, students with excellent coding and problem-solving abilities, a real passion for digital technology (specifically web development) and with an inquisitive mind would be the ideal candidates for a placement with us. 

What support does Enigma Interactive offer for placement students? 

Our Placements are treated like all our employees in that they are given a full induction when they first start, along with a period of on-boarding into their role, followed by continued support throughout their time with us, as and when required.   

We integrate our Placements fully into their team, its projects and our business. 

We appreciate that they are still students, and there will be gaps in knowledge and skillset, so we assign a ‘mentor’ who is there to answer any questions and provide support and guidance. 

We know we have an obligation to support our Placements, not just as a means to ‘upskill’ them by providing technical knowledge and commercial insight, but to help them develop those all-important softer skills, as well as building their confidence and resilience. 

We encourage our Placements to get fully involved with the vibrant social scene that Enigma offers. Activities include sports challenges, book club, Pilates sessions, pub lunches, plus a whole range of ad hoc evening activities such as axe throwing, crazy golf, cheese tasting and Escape Rooms, to name but a few. We’ve even had a visit from some birds of prey at our studio!  This helps the students to fully integrate into our team and fosters a sense of belonging.   

Being a Placement in a business is often a significant change for students – they are in a new commercial environment, with new challenges and new people.  Given that, we are keen to support our Placements overall well-being and mental health – during their transition from student-life to the workplace, and throughout their time with us. 

Have any of our students you’ve previously taken on placement been offered a role after graduation? 

Yes – most definitely!  Since we began taking placements, several of our Newcastle University students have been offered permanent Developer roles after Graduation. 

Currently, we have three Developers on staff who started out as placements and another two who have been offered a full-time job when they graduate. 

How can students find out about the placement vacancies you have available? 

Each Autumn, we advertise our placements on the Newcastle University Careers site and also have the opportunity posted on the University Computing @ Newcastle: Employment and Enterprise blog. 

We liaise with the Placement Co-ordinator to make sure that the opportunity is promoted and announced to all 2nd year students who may be interested. 

Enigma also regularly attend the University Job Fairs where we promote our placements and  any graduate opportunities that we have open. 

Is there anything else you’d like to say? 

Enigma has been offering placement opportunities to university students for over 20 years and the benefits to both the student and to our company cannot be overstated. 

Placement students have brought Enigma talent, creativity, diversity and innovation. They have allowed us to expand our services, maintain the quality of what we build, commit to increased client work and hit deadlines, as well as contributing to overall business growth.   

Enabling our placement students to grow and progress as developers is not just of benefit to Enigma and our clients, but by extension to the whole digital sector. 

We want our students to thrive during their year with us – to really enjoy their time here, to gain exposure to a variety of technologies and to hone their skills (hard and soft) and, hopefully, return to us when they graduate. 

Previous Placement student Pietro Alessandro Uberti Bona Blotto at the Tech Talent event earlier this year. Read about Pietro’s experience in this blog: Enigma Placements: Pietro’s year as a Software Developer – News | Enigma Interactive
Previous Placement student Bradley McCarthy who spoke about his experience in this blog Enigma Placements: Bradley’s year as a Software Developer – News | Enigma Interactive

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Interview with a Study Abroad student

Student name: Luke Williamson 

Current course: Computer Science 

Study abroad university: National University of Singapore 

Study abroad country: Singapore 

Why did you choose to do a year abroad? Why Singapore? 

Doing a year abroad gives you a chance to experience a different environment to your own. That’s different culture, different pacing, and different people. I personally think it’s important to try to experience this whenever you’re given the opportunity, especially in your twenties when you have the freedom for it, as I think putting yourself in new environments like this is how you grow and develop as a person. Going to university was a big adjustment for me, as it is for anyone, but I really felt that I thrived from meeting new people and trying new things, and doing a year abroad was a chance to experience that again. I think it can seem quite scary, especially if you don’t know anyone in your destination country, but it’s a leap of faith I wanted to take, and as anyone else who did a year abroad will tell you, it will work out fine and be really fun!  

I grew up in a quiet, rural area, so going to Newcastle gave me a chance to experience life in a city – but with my year abroad I wanted to take it a step further. I chose Singapore because it’s unlike anywhere I’ve ever lived before. It’s massive, modern, and has insane infrastructure unlike anything I’ve seen in England. It was an opportunity to see if I would want to live somewhere like this later in life. At the same time, it’s honestly not that big of an adjustment. Although the culture is for the most part completely different, the national language is English and the country surprisingly shares a lot of its customs and culture with England. Plus, It’s nearly always sunny, and the food is absolutely incredible! 

What support did you receive from the university before your year abroad started? 

The uni were hugely helpful. You were free to email or ask questions in person whenever you wanted to, and they had loads of resources available to help out, plus they had presentations to help make sure you were prepared and knew everything you needed to know beforehand. 

What support have you had while in Singapore? 

The uni do a monthly check in, and although I’ve ran into no personal or academic issues, you always know that the support is there when you need it. 

What’s been your favourite thing about study abroad so far? 

My favourite thing honestly could be the food… Don’t get me wrong, I really miss beans on toast! But the food here is absolutely unreal. I’m always pestering people for recipes because I don’t wanna lose all this stuff when I come back. Drinks too – nothing beats getting an ice-cold drink when its 35 degrees, and they’re really cheap here too. 

What advice would you give to a student who is considering study abroad? 

While I don’t think a year abroad would suit everybody, if you’re already considering it, then you’re probably the type of person who would love it. Just remember everyone else feels just as scared – I definitely did – but there’s a reason it’s so hard to find a student who regrets their year abroad, and so easy to find one who regrets not doing it! 

What skills do you expect to gain from study abroad? 

I think pretty much all of my social skills have massively improved since coming here. You meet so many people from different backgrounds and cultures and it’s really eye-opening. I already feel so much more confident when meeting people now and worry so much less what others may think of me. I also think my ability to adapt has massively improved, and that’s invaluable not just for jobs or uni, but life in general. 

How are you finding life in Singapore? (e.g. daily life, culture, people, travel opportunities) 

Getting used to the new routine took some adjustment but after a while it all fell into place, and it feels like the new normal. Singapore is incredibly culturally diverse, with people from Malaysian, Chinese, Indian, and Japanese backgrounds just to name a few.  You’d honestly need a lot longer than a year to experience it all! 

And that’s not even starting on the travel opportunities either. Changi airport is one of the biggest in the world, and you can get to almost any neighbouring countries super easily. I’ve been to Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and Java, and I have plans to go to China soon, so it’s a great gateway to see all of Asia, not just Singapore. 

Many thanks to Luke for supporting with this article. If you’d like more information on the Study Abroad opportunities for School of Computing students, please visit: Experience the World – Global Opportunities – Newcastle University

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A day in the life of a placement student in cyber security

Hi, I’m Maisie, a computer science student at Newcastle University. Last year I did a placement, working as a researcher at a cyber security company. This is a typical day in my life working remotely at the company.

8:00

I’d usually get up at this time and get ready for the day. My placement was remote so I didn’t have to get up too early!

9:00

At 9am, I’d start work for the day. I’d log on to my VM and Microsoft Teams as well as the other applications I needed for work. I’d then check my email and Teams, to check if I had any meetings that day as well as reply back to any messages.

After this, I would decide on what projects I wanted to work on for the day. I usually had a couple of projects on the go, so would decide on whichever was most urgent or relevant to research I had found. I would get up my code for that project and figure out what needed to be done. I would then write up my to do list for the day with the most important tasks to be completed.

9:30

After setting myself up for a good day, I would then start working. Usually I spent some time researching different libraries and new technologies that we could use to improve a project or solve a particular problem. I would spend some time reading the formal documentation, finding out about the technology, and ensuring it was suitable for projects.

10:30

At this time, I would usually have my morning call with my manager. I would talk through what I had been up to and the research I had found. Then I’d let him know my plans for the day and we’d discuss any new ideas for projects. If needed, he would also help me with any programming problems I had run into the previous day and give suggestions for possible solutions.

Sometimes I would be asked to quickly build small projects for other team members, such as test harnesses for other technologies created by the company. We would talk through the requirements of the program and I would prioritise completing that during the day.

11:00

Next I’d go downstairs and have a quick coffee break and say hello to my dog Ralph.

11:15

At this time, I was most productive after coffee! Usually I would start programming and getting most of my to-do completed for the day. I would try out the new technologies I had researched, using them to solve problems I had with my project.

If I had a project to create for a team member, I might also have a call with them at this time to learn more about the project requirements or to demonstrate how the project worked so far.

1:00

Then it was time for lunch!

2:00

In the afternoon, I would sometimes work on building demonstrations to show how new technologies could be used to benefit the company. This would usually involve building some test code to demonstrate how the technology worked. I would then record it and put together a demonstration video that could be shown to the sales team and higher management.

4:00

If I had time, I liked to end the day cleaning up my code and adding comments to make it more readable for others. This was an easy task to end the day, and would make it easier the next day to pick up from where I had left off.

4:30

I would usually have another quick call with my manager before the end of the day. I would talk through what I had achieved in the day and show him any code or demonstrations I had created. He would also help resolve any programming problems I had during the day.

5:00

The end of the work day, thanks for spending it with me!

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How my placement improved my university experience

Last year, I did a placement with a cyber security company. I found the experience extremely rewarding and that it benefitted my university experience when I returned for my final year of my computer science degree. This is a list of the advantages that my placement provided me with, that might convince you to complete one too. 

Finding my interests

Before starting my placement, I thought I might enjoy working in cybersecurity, but I had not had much prior experience in this field. My placement was an amazing opportunity to learn about what a career in this field involved and whether it was the right fit for me. I was able to learn about the different areas of cybersecurity and I found out what interested me the most. This helped me make a better, more informed decision when choosing my year 3 modules, as I already knew I would enjoy security and cryptography. It also helped me decide on my dissertation title as I had many topics of interest from my placement which I wanted to explore further.

Throughout my placement I was given the opportunity to learn about the different teams involved in the organisation, including research, software engineering and marketing. I could then determine which best suited me. By figuring out my career goals before finishing university, I am able to ensure my choices at university, such as modules and societies, align with these goals so I can better achieve them.

Applying theoretical knowledge

Throughout my placement, I was able to apply the theory I had learnt at university. This helped me gain a deeper understanding of the concepts I had studied, as I saw practical examples of how they were used and had experience building real systems.

Using my knowledge I had gained at university, I was able to create software prototypes for real customer requirements and test harnesses for the team to use. This was extremely rewarding, as I could directly see how my work was benefiting the company.

Networking and new opportunities

I was given the opportunity to meet lots of new people on my placement with different skills I was able to learn from. As well as helping me develop my technical knowledge, they gave me guidance and advice about my future career. Since returning to university, they have continued to support me, and have offered me a job starting after graduation. This was extremely beneficial to my university experience, as it helped reduce the pressure of looking for a job whilst studying. I am very grateful for their support, and learning from these individuals was probably the most rewarding part of my experience.

Gaining confidence

During my placement, I gained the confidence to work independently and as part of a team as my communication skills improved. I felt more confident working on team projects this academic year and took on a more leading role. I also had to deliver lots of presentations during my placement, a skill I have always found challenging but was able to develop throughout the year. I am now more confident in my ability and will use this new skill when giving my presentation for my dissertation.

Learning dissertation skills

During my placement I was able to gain new skills that I have since been able to apply at university. I learnt technical skills, such as becoming fluent in a new programming language, Golang, which I have continued to use at university and will use to develop my dissertation project. Additionally, I learnt new soft skills, including written communication skills and presentation skills. These skills directly relate to those needed for a university dissertation and will be extremely beneficial when I start.