My Placement Experience
by Ben
In my two and a half years as a Software Developer at Codify, I
have experienced a wide range of roles and responsibilities across
the operations division of the business - starting in 2011 as a
placement student in the Support team, before returning to
university and continuing part-time at Codify as a developer for
internal business systems and finally transitioning to the Projects
team earlier this year. Throughout my time at the company, I have
gained a variety of skills and experience which have been
beneficial to my academic studies and future career.
When I first started my placement in the Support Team, my job
was to assist customers with queries, software defects and minor
changes. I was responsible for the entire lifecycle of my support
calls, from initially receiving emails and telephone calls
reporting issues, through development and testing of fixes and
finally deploying the updated software to the customer's live
system. Despite being a student, my responsibilities were exactly
the same as any other developer on the team and I found this to be
both a fantastic learning opportunity and a highly rewarding
job.
During my placement, I learned a great deal about how a software
company operates and the different roles therein. My job allowed me
to learn many technologies, industry best practices and greatly
improve my knowledge of the C# language and .NET framework. I also
feel that my placement was invaluable in improving my communication
and time management skills, as keeping customers informed and
delivering solutions in a timely manner are central to the daily
running of the Support Team.
Having previously completed a placement through the Year in
Industry scheme, I was already aware of the value that a good
placement can provide to both the employing company and especially
the placement student. My placement year at Codify was especially
valuable as it not only provided me with real work experience
directly relevant to my degree, but also led to my continued
employment with the company throughout my remaining time at
university and hopefully for some time after!
For me, making the most of a placement year comes down to a few
simple steps:
- Get involved - try everything and make the most of the
experience.
- Work hard - for many companies providing a placement, it is
part of a long term recruitment plan and making a good impression
early on could lead to future opportunities.
- Socialise and ask questions - make the most of being surrounded
by experienced people and take every chance to learn from
them.
- Most importantly - enjoy it!
