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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.

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How to deal with job rejection

Getting a job rejection sucks. It can absolutely ruin your mood and make you question yourself. And chances are you will receive more than one before you are finally able to secure a role. So how do you deal with constant job rejections and apply the loss to future success? 

Here are some tips: 

REFLECT 

After completing an interview, you might be tempted to immediately focus on what went wrong rather than what went well with intrusive thoughts like “Why didn’t I mention this?” or “I should have known a better answer to that last question.” It is easy to focus on the negatives, so next time you do an interview, try to focus on the positives first. Not only will it make you feel better, but it will give some insight into which areas you are doing well in. 

 A great approach to reflecting on interviews is to think about it from the perspective of the interviewer, both the good and bad parts. Don’t think about how you feel it went but go off the actual interview.  

What do I mean by this? 

During an interview, chances are the interviewer will be taking notes. You should do the same. While the interview is still fresh in your mind, write down the questions asked and what your responses were. Then, bring up the job specification and see where your responses hit the required criteria; highlighting them in green is a great way of visualizing the parts that went well. Following that use a red pen to annotate and add to your answers to see what you might have changed or improved if given a chance to do the interview again. Rather than churning all the thoughts over in your head, getting it written down as a way of reflecting will help you out a lot more in the future. 

FEEDBACK 

Sometimes the easiest way to improve is to ask where you went wrong.  

It is essential if you ever receive a job rejection that you ask for feedback on your application. While you are more likely to receive feedback at later stages of an application process, there is no harm in asking at any stage, from the initial submission of your CV and Cover Letter to the technical test and final interview. The reasons behind a rejection from a certain role can give critical insight into where you need to focus your efforts in the future. It could be something super small and easy to rectify that has been preventing you from moving further in application processes, but you won’t know until you ask. 

You can practice most stages of an application process with the Employability Team, and it is their job to give you feedback. This is less focused on the content you might have, such as your portfolio or experience, and more on how you might answer a question and present yourself. It also gives the added advantage of practice! 

OPTIONS AND MOMENTUM 

Getting rejected for a role that you have invested time into researching, applying and attending interviews for can really knock your confidence and make you apprehensive for any future roles you apply for. This is why it is so important to keep both your options open and the application momentum up as much as you possibly can. 

It can be tempting after you have applied for a job or reached the interview stage for a role to stall any other applications until you hear back from them.  

Don’t do this.  

While waiting for a certain company to respond back to you, you can use that time to apply for other roles so that you always have at least one on the go at any one time, regardless of if you get a rejection. This is also another great way to gain practice for all stages of an application process, which you can apply to the roles you might be more interested in. For example, you might apply for your dream role but also apply for another role that interests you as a backup. It might take a while for the dream company to get back to you but in that time, you get quite far in the application process for the other job, including a few interviews. You can draw on the experience gained during those interviews during the interview for the dream company.  

YOU AREN’T ALONE 

Another important thing to consider is something that probably seems obvious, but chances are you don’t think about it as much as you should after a job rejection. You are not alone in this. People get job rejections all the time, including other people who applied for the same job you got rejected for. It can be easy to take the rejection and any criticism you get to heart but there will be others who receive similar feedback. Securing a job is a competitive and lengthy process that you probably won’t nail the first time. And as I have mentioned in the article, there are people who are willing to help you achieve those goals. 

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START UP-Supported Businesses

A tech start-up company called Haystack has recently raised £1 million to help scale up and expand the reach of their smart talent-matching technology for engineering, data and design recruitment. Founded in 2019, Haystack is a careers and insights marketplace that allows businesses to more efficiently hire for their tech teams by eliminating the need for tech recruiters and saving on internal resources.  

But the relevance of Haystack to this article is not for the reasons you might think… 

Haystack CTO Rob Simmons, CEO Chris Bone, COO Mike Davies
From Left to Right: Haystack CTO Rob Simmons, CEO Chris Bone, COO Mike Davies

Haystack is a START UP-supported business. Co-founder and COO, Mike Davies, graduated from Newcastle University in 2017 with a BSc in Computer Science and received business coaching from the university’s START UP Advisers. 

So, what exactly is START UP? 

START UP provides clear, practical direction on starting or growing a business, social enterprise or freelance career, regardless of the stage you are at. 

They work with students and graduates (up to 3 years after graduation) who want to work for themselves, be it full- or part-time. The START UP team’s support includes one-to-one coaching and tailored business advice, skills development, equity-free grant funding, co-working space and other valuable opportunities to help you advance your self-employed career. 

Currently, there are 203 START UP-supported businesses, with a combined annual turnover of £88 million. Between them, they have raised £44 million in external investments, won numerous national and global accolades and created 947 full-time jobs. 

If you have been considering alternative means after university and are thinking of setting up something for yourself, be sure to check out the timeline below!  

This article only serves to introduce START UP for those who might not know about it. There are tons more resources about it available on the careers service page that I highly recommend checking out. 

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What to do the first week of your internship

When starting your internship, it’s important to make a good first impression and set yourself up for a good year. These are some things I wish I had known the first week of my internship to get the most out the experience. 

1. Get to know your role

It is important to know how your role fits into the company and what your responsibilities will be. It will help you meet and exceed your manager’s expectation and show that you are dependable and responsible. If not entirely clear from your job description, it’s perfectly okay to ask for clarification of what tasks are expected of you and the projects you will be working on. By learning what success looks like in your role, you are much more likely to achieve it and put forward your best work.

2. Start a ‘success’ document

Start creating a document for recording projects and tasks you have particularly enjoyed or succeeded at and how it impacted the company. It will help keep track of your achievements and can be used for a number of reasons. Firstly, it can be used when having check-ins with your manager, to show what tasks you have accomplished or how you have helped other team members. Alternatively, it could be used to reflect at the end of your internship, to demonstrate how you were successful in your role and how it has benefitted you and the company, to help gain a return offer. It could also be helpful for updating your CV after your internship or giving something to talk about during future interviews.

3. Introduce yourself to everyone

Try and get to know people during your first week. One way to remember everyone is by writing down their name and a brief description of their role after meeting them. People will appreciate you learning their name and it will help build friendships. It will also make it easier to initiate conversation in the future, such as when asking for guidance or advice, and help you to work better in a team.

Learning about peoples’ roles will help you learn more about the structure of the company and how it operates. By networking with others, you are more likely to be given the opportunity to work with other teams and gain new experiences and skills.

4. Learn the structure of your day

The first week of your placement is the perfect time to establish a good routine at work. To do this, learn how often to check-in with your manager, whether that should be daily or weekly, as well as other team members when collaborating. This will help you stay organised and better plan for these meetings.

As well as this, set up a routine for your own day for maximum productivity. This could be creating a list of daily objectives each morning, checking your emails at a certain times and using your most productive hours to complete more difficult tasks. This will help you stay focused and maximise your time.

5. Volunteer for projects

When possible, volunteer for projects at work. This will help you learn new skills and gain experience you might not otherwise get. It will show your enthusiasm for the role and your willingness to learn. You are also more likely to be remembered for future projects which could lead to more opportunities with the company. Your placement is what you make of it and you can get more experience by putting yourself out there and expressing what you want to do.