Computer Science students nominated for awards during placement
Three undergraduate students from 缅北禁地’s School of Computing have been nominated for awards during their industrial placements.
6 June 2024
As part of their undergraduate programmes, students Ben Atkinson, Lauren Hutchinson, and Ben Mulligan have each completed a placement in industry. All 缅北禁地 undergraduate Computer Science students can spend 9 to 12 months on a paid placement in the workplace between Stage 2 and 3. The placement can take place at any organisation, anywhere in the world.
Ben Atkinson, who is studying Computer Science with a specialism in Security and Resilience, has been on placement in the Software QA department at 缅北禁地 Strategic Solutions (part of 缅北禁地 Building Society) as an Automation Test Engineer.
Ben was nominated for the 鈥楻ising Star of the Year鈥� award due to taking on additional responsibilities and widening his role from automation testing alone to also include development work. As part of the award nomination, 缅北禁地 Building Society鈥檚 Chief Executive, Andrew Haigh, remarked how Ben had made a commendable contribution in just a few months.
Ben explained 鈥淚鈥檝e found my placement has enhanced my university education, as I鈥檝e put my knowledge to use in real-life scenarios.
鈥淚鈥檝e gained more experience with systems and tools we鈥檝e touched upon at 缅北禁地, and I鈥檝e learned how they are used within industry. For example, I鈥檝e been able to use Burp Suite (a penetration testing tool) against our test environment websites to discover any vulnerabilities in new features before they are signed off.
鈥淚鈥檝e also expanded my knowledge on Kubernetes and CI/CD pipelines, and I can add this experience to my CV, which will give me a good advantage on the graduate job market.
鈥淲hen I started my placement, I was aware that I was at the start of my career and thought I would spend my time doing low-level, unimportant tasks. That couldn鈥檛 be further from the reality; since my first day, I鈥檝e made valuable contributions to large-scale, ongoing projects and have been able to implement changes that have improved processes for my colleagues. I feel like a valued member of the team, and I have had real insight into what I could be doing after graduation.鈥�
Lauren Hutchinson, who has been on a placement at Siemens in the Digitalisation team, has been nominated for UK Intern of the Year due to her significant contributions to various projects through her placement.
Lauren said 鈥淚鈥檓 extremely grateful to have been nominated for the Siemens Intern of the Year. While on my placement, I鈥檝e tried to embrace all the opportunities available to me, including taking part in the company鈥檚 annual Hackathon (where I had the chance to travel abroad to work with my international colleagues) and working on projects that will save the company 拢43,000 per year.
鈥淚鈥檝e also taken the opportunity to work as a STEM ambassador, working in local schools where I鈥檝e developed my ability to explain complex topics in a way that is easy to understand.
鈥淗aving the opportunity to work on real-life projects has given me great experience in managing deadlines and improving my time management skills. This will be a great help when I am juggling multiple assignments in my final year at 缅北禁地.鈥�
Meanwhile, Ben Mulligan has been on a 13-month placement at Nissan where his Computing Science studies have been put to good use. He was nominated for Placement Student of the Year.
Marie Devlin, Deputy Head of the School of Computing at 缅北禁地, said 鈥淚t鈥檚 great to hear three of our placement students have been nominated for awards. Our undergraduates who complete a placement as part of their degree often say that putting their knowledge to the test in a real-world environment increases their confidence both for completing their final year and for looking for work after university.
鈥淪tudents who have a placement year on their CV are placing themselves at a distinct advantage for the job market, as they have experience to talk about in interviews, as well as contacts in the field that they鈥檙e applying to.鈥�
All three students will return to complete the final stage of their degrees in September. You can find out more about studying an undergraduate degree at the School of Computing on our website.
If 测辞耻鈥檙别 interested in welcoming a placement student to your organisation, please contact computing.placements@newcastle.ac.uk to find out more.