Coming back from my Year in Industry I realised how interdisciplinary my degree really was.

Tell us about your Year in Industry

My placement consisted of a 3 months training period, getting me up to speed with the company and what they were currently working on. The pace was incredibly fast, from start to finish of my placement I could see how beneficial it was and how much I learnt during that time and it was exciting to see the coding work I was assigned being applied in a real world context. The things I had been assigned as reading to back up my practical work, I was able to see how that translated within the context of the company.

Have you career ambitions changed?

My career ambition has drastically changed following my placement. I was very software focussed during my placement and coming back to 3rd year at ACSE, I could see how many of the toughest engineering problems I faced were control engineering problems. This highlighted to me how interdisciplinary my degree was and showed me the breadth of knowledge that I had gained and how this could be applied more widely in the field of engineering. 

How did your degree prepare you for your placement?

My degree prepared me by allowing me to connect the dots. I was able to clearly see how much I had learnt but also gave me the opportunity to identify the gaps in my knowledge which I was able to address within a real industry setting. It showed me I knew how to approach my learning process and from the lectures at ACSE I was confident with the idea of complexity so this enabled me to pick things up quickly - feedback that was reflect from my Year in Industry colleagues.