Placement Profiles
Below are profiles of some of our previous placement students. They have provided detailed accounts of what they did on placement, what their overall experience was like and what they are doing now.
I undertook my internship at Sybase, an SAP Company as a Routing Operations Analyst. In this role I carried out various tasks including testing SMS and MMS messaging platforms, ensuring KPIs and SLAs were met and managing various supplier accounts and relationships.
It was a valuable experience as I was able to develop both my commercial and technical skills, improve my business acumen and network with various professional within the Telecommunications Industry.
During my time at Sybase, I also completed a course within ITIL V3 a Service Industry framework. In my final year at university, I will be able to apply the knowledge, skills and experience gained to complete my modules and dissertation.
I would strongly recommend that all students undertake a placement year as it allows you to both apply knowledge gained at university but also to learn the practical skills of being in a live, dynamic workplace environment.
Milan Ruparelia- BSc (Hons) Business Computing Systems
My placement at GlaxoSmithKline as an Application Support Specialist and Web Developer helped me to develop and achieve invaluable skills. Prior to my work placement, the School of Informatics' Professional Liaison Unit helped me greatly in various ways including CV checking, interview skills, employability tips and the advertisement of placements opportunities.
My placement enabled me to secure a graduate job weeks after completing my studies at City University London. I am now working for a leading marketing research company. My role as SQL Developer involves 70% of the work I carried out during my GSK placement, clearly demonstrating the very positive impact upon my placement has had on my career.
Kayam Moosa, BSc (Hons) Business Computing Systems
"Spending 12 months or so on my placement was one of the best decisions I made in terms of my career prospects. The marketplace values people with skills and through my placement I learnt a lot from a technical and real world perspective that you simply don't get to learn in labs or lectures.
The PLU and City were great in terms of offering advice on how to go about finding placements, CV checking and interview preparation. They regularly updated the placement adverts and other information which meant that even at 2am in the morning I could look at some of them and start filling out applications! Through combining the experience gained from studying computing at university and going on placement, straight after graduating (even in recession) I am now working as a Product Consultant for one of the biggest Asset Management companies in the UK. If you have the opportunity, go for it."
Mitul Vadgama, BSc (Hons) Business Computing Systems
My placement has given me the opportunity to improve my technical skills and therefore broadened my career opportunities. I have taken on numerous software development projects using programming languages such as C#. My expertise in programming and graphical design will permit me to work as a multimedia programmer or web developer. I have also had exposure to database languages such as MySQL.
The improvement in my soft skills, in particular my communication skills, team skills and time management skills, has enabled me consider managerial positions.
As a result of my placement, I have broadened my career opportunities enabling me to consider a wider range of jobs and demonstrating that I am qualified to handle the pressure of a full-time job and ongoing studies.
Stephanie Shearing, BSc (Hons) Business Computing Systems