From coursework to campaigns - my journey through a real-world internship

During the Easter break, I had the chance to take part in the University of Sheffield’s Workplace Insights scheme: a two-week placement programme that connects students with businesses for hands-on work experience.

As a second-year BSc Data Science student, I was keen to see how the skills I’d developed on my course could be applied in the real world. I was matched with the data team at search marketing agency Reboot Online, where I worked on a project involving social media data, trend analysis, and campaign development.

What followed was one of the most rewarding and insightful experiences of my degree so far.

Applying data skills to a live industry project

On day one, I was introduced to the project: analysing a year’s worth of daily trending topics on X (formerly Twitter) to uncover how often football-related conversations appeared, and how that varied by region and time of year.

Although I had limited experience with web scraping before this placement, I quickly got to grips with building a scraper to automate data collection. From there, I used a classification model (DeepSeek) to tag trends as football-related or not, and began analysing the results.

The most exciting part was seeing how this data could be turned into something valuable for Reboot’s campaigns, from uncovering PR angles to informing future client projects.

What I learned beyond the code

While I definitely developed my technical skills, this internship taught me a lot more than just how to clean a dataset or write a scraper.

• Working remotely: I learned how to communicate clearly and proactively in a remote team, joining daily check-ins and team ideation sessions.
• Creative collaboration: I got to take part in a campaign brainstorming session and saw first-hand how data can spark original, newsworthy ideas.
• Reusable thinking: I made my final code adaptable, so it could be used by others to analyse future trends across different countries or topics.

This kind of flexibility isn’t something I’d focused on in coursework, but it’s crucial in a professional environment.

How it differed from university work

At university, projects often have clearly defined outcomes. In contrast, this placement gave me space to explore, make decisions, and adapt the brief based on what I was learning. It was empowering to know that the work I was doing could actually be used in a live campaign.

I also found that technical knowledge alone wasn’t enough. Explaining my findings clearly, writing up methodology notes, and understanding the broader context were just as important.

Advice for other students

If you’re considering the Workplace Insights scheme, I couldn’t recommend it more. Here are a few things I’d pass on to fellow students:

• You don’t need to know everything already: I started with very little scraping experience, and now I’ve built a tool from scratch.
• Ask questions early: Your mentors are there to help. Even a quick Slack message can save hours of second-guessing.
• Don’t underestimate short placements: Two weeks might sound brief, but with the right project, you’ll be surprised how much you can do.

Final reflections

Working with the data team at Reboot was a great introduction to how data science operates in the fast-paced world of digital marketing. I left with more confidence in my abilities, a better sense of what I enjoy, and a new appreciation for how data can drive creativity, not just strategy.

I'm hugely grateful to the Workplace Insights team at the University of Sheffield, and to everyone at Reboot for making the experience so positive.