Alex McLarty (T017319), Computer Science BSc.

I worked at ARM, a British CPU designer based in Cambridge. ARM designs

RISC CPUs and licenses them to partners around the world, like Samsung or

Texas Instruments. ARM's technology can be found in approx. 98% of mobile

phones and the majority of consumer electronics. ARM employs around 2000

people worldwide.

I received a salary of £15,000 per annum with 25 days of holiday. My role was

an Undergraduate Engineer in the Demo Team, which was a group of

engineers that created demonstrations to showcase ARM technology.

I worked on two projects while at ARM. The first was a social media site

hosted on a distributed server and the second was a distributed 3D render

farm.

ARM sent me to two technical symposiums in France and India where I demonstrated various ARM powered products.

My greatest achievement at ARM was completing the social media site and demonstrating it to ARM's partners. My greatest problem (or opportunity, depending on your outlook) was trying to understand thousands of lines of renderer code in C++!

About Accenture Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company. Committed to delivering innovation, Accenture collaborates with its clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments. With deep industry and business process expertise, broad global resources and a proven track record, Accenture can mobilize the right people, skills and technologies to help clients improve their performance.

Placement Information

Job Title: System Specialist Salary: £12000 per annum

Holidays: 25 days per annum Location: Longbenton, Newcastle

Time: 37.5 hours p/w flexi

Perks: •Gym discounts

•Organised Football •Metro Radio Arena tickets

•Newcastle/Sunderland matches

New / Improved Skills:

•SQL •UNIX •C / C++ •Perl

•Korn Shell •Vi Editor

•Problem solving

Job Description

You will be working on the National Insurance Recording System (version 2) or NIRS2. It is one of the largest databases in the world. You will be working in the Skip Team within the Live Application Support group.

You will liaise with other teams from the Newcastle offices to write scripts and exercises that will alter a system that has a NI fund of approximately £300 billion. An ideal opportunity for a student looking to improve programming and problem solving skills.

Craig Wilde – Computer Studies

Helping Williams F1 establish a winning identity through a new website

Enabling Technologies for Enterprise Performance Management

Green Media are a specialist search engine

optimisation, web design and email

marketing agency based in Newcastle.

Based in Union Street in Newcastle, just a 10

minute walk from my house, my role in the

company was junior web developer.

I was able to develop my programming skills

and apply them to real life projects for real life

clients. During my placement I was able to work

on websites for clients such as North East Audi

and Beamish County Hall.

Initially, the thought of working on live projects

was daunting but with the help and support of my

colleagues, I was able to develop my skills and

build in confidence.

The skills and techniques I have taken from my

time on placement will help me with my final year

projects. Without a doubt, choosing to do a

placement has been the best choice. Working with

experienced colleagues who deal with

clients on a day to day basis teaches you

much more than you could ever

achieve in a classroom.

By Damon Smith Web Design and Development Student

Working Hours:

(Mon – Thurs)

7:55am – 4:40pm

(Friday)

7:55am – 2:25pm

Salary:

£12,808

Job Title:

IT Architecture,

Strategy &

Planning

Location:

Nissan Sunderland

Holiday

Arrangements:

25 days holiday +

bank holidays

Perks:

Cooperate

Discounts on

Vehicles as well as

other businesses.

Nissan Select

Benefits.

Danny Packer

Course: Computer Science (BSc)

http://www.nissan-global.com/EN/index.html

Who are Nissan and what do they do? Nissan are a multinational car maker whose headquarters are in Japan. They are one of the largest car manufactures in the world, they produce cars like the Nissan Qashqai, Juke, Note, X-Trail and Micra. They have recently launched the all electric car the Nissan Leaf The role of ‘IT Architecture, Strategy & Planning’ It’s a diverse and challenging role that exposes you to many interesting IT subjects; you will be part of an experienced team helping to deliver projects on time. You will play a vital role in the software development cycle in UAT and application benchmarking, creating scripts to be used in Stress Tester software. You will be using WebSphere IBM application server to administer Nissan’s server infrastructure, using AIX linux commands for certain functionalities. I had the opportunity to develop SharePoint sites for Nissan using ASP.NET via SharePoint Designer 2007, these projects were managed by me, and you really do feel part of an empowered working culture. You will play a pivotal role in the RFC (request for change system) acting as a change supervisor, this involves assessing new changes and gaining the required approvals. You will be involved in ad-hoc projects as when they arise. Communication A key area is the way in which Nissan communicate, with having such a huge and diverse multi cultural workforce you will gain a great understanding of how different working environments integrate effectively together. You will be using office communicator, arrange conference calls, use desktop sharing, as well as office based group meetings. New skills and knowledge

AIX Language for working on Virtual Servers

SharePoint Designer 2007 ASP.NET

WebSphere Application Server

StressTester – load testing software

Server Architecture Greatest challenge and achievements My greatest challenge was dealing with many projects at once and how best to devote my time to these; whilst still meeting deadlines. My achievements are helping develop software for a multinational company that will be used for years to come; having spent time with seasoned experienced professionals and having Nissan on your CV. Nissan will make you a more confident team player and help you integrate into the IT world.

An example of Stress Tester data

Placement with:

Nissan Motor Manufacturing

IT Architecture, Strategy and Planning

Placement date:

31/08/2010- 16/09/2011

Darryl Murphy Computing Studies

Organisation: Burnside Business & Enterprise College Location: Wallsend, Newcastle Role: Assistant Web Developer (~£11,000 p.a. & lots of school holidays!!) Main activities included building upon knowledge of PHP and web based languages to build applications and work on projects, adding functionality to the intranet used by the staff at the school.

A project designed and developed from scratch for staff to book equipment out from the ICT office

Learnt loads of new skills using web languages such as...

XHTML, CSS, PHP, Javascript, AJAX, JSON

Greatest achievements: Designing and developing fully functioning applications now used by staff on a daily basis

Biggest obstacle: Taking time to study and go through tutorials to develop enough skills to be able to create applications that meet the standards set

The skills acquired, both technically and personally are immense in hindsight. Come into

your placement with an open mind and willingness to learn and the rewards are

obvious

IT Infrastructure

The IT systems in place at Ben Hoare Bell are advanced for a business of our size, from advanced information systems ready to deal with the management of client details and case management to dedicated, powerful servers that provide services such

as email, antivirus protection and thin client sessions.

Each remote site has its own server that hosts printers and storage solutions. The stored data is transferred to another site overnight and backed up onto tape drives.

Staff at Ben Hoare Bell have the facility to get remote access to the servers through a Cisco certified VPN connection, from

there they can access any files and join thin client sessions.

Placement Details

Job Description: IT Professional Support & Development

Location: Sunderland (Based),

Southwick & Byker

Where I lived: Fenham, Newcastle

Travel Method: National Rail, Nexus Metro & Bus

Pay : £10,500

Holiday: 25 Days

Perks: Unlimited travel on Nexus

Metro all year

David Cooper - 08002618 – Computer Science

About Ben Hoare Bell Solicitors

Ben Hoare Bell was established in 1978. We have grown considerably and enjoy a regional and national reputation in all of the fields in which we work.

We are one of the region’s largest providers of Legal Aid and we remain committed

to providing specialist, but personal, advice across a range of social welfare law.

We were one of the first firms in the North East to be awarded the Legal Services Commission franchise for quality services in all our principal areas of practice.

A large proportion of our solicitors are accredited as members of specialist panels in their fields of work and our emphasis on continuing education helps to ensure

that we are able to bring up-to-date knowledge to all the areas in which we practice.

Duties of Placement

Helpdesk Support

•Providing advice to users through phone and email

•Assisting with issues either in person or through a remote assistance program

•Identify causes of problems, and try to create a solution, with help from outsourced IT companies on occasions

Development

•Assisting with improvements to case management software through the use of workflow editing and coding of Microsoft Office Word documents.

•Analysis of current hardware. Providing upgrades to meet requirements.

•Gaining knowledge of possible areas for development e.g. virtualisation

General

•Take part in meetings regarding IT

•Purchasing of hardware and software

•Liaising with external companies regarding IT support, inter-office links, telephone systems and telecommunication companies (mobile phone purchasing etc.)

Knowledge Gained

www.benhoarebell.com 47 John Street, Sunderland, SR1 1QU

• Knowledge of server operating systems (2000 & 2003)

• Further knowledge into Windows XP, Vista and 7 operating systems.

• Server, desktop & laptop maintenance (software and hardware)

• How to use SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) reports to change a website’s ranking

• Use of business switches and firewalls

• Use of software to link Blackberry devices to the mail server

• Mainting and developing information system software

• Ethernet cable and socket wiring

• IP telephone systems

• Remote assistance software

• VPN solutions

David Jeffs (BSc) Computer Science

• Earn money whilst gaining experience

in one of the worlds largest companies!

• £12,000 a year, getting paid to put your

University education in to practice.

• Flexible working hours with flexi-time;

go in later, or leave earlier? It’s up to you.

• Half price gym membership of your

choice, as well as private health care.

• Like sports? Love Accenture! – Free

tickets to see Newcastles Elite Teams!

• Excellent location, very close to town

centre, very accessible location. Located

at Benton Park View in Longbenton,

NE98 1ZZ, it is very close to Longbenton

and Four Lane Ends Metro, as well as

being accessible by 62 and 63 busses.

Job Title: Build Team – Programmer Analyst

• Put your programming and database knowledge in to practice, creating modules in C, as well as creating and

manipulating databases in SQL, as well as using lots of other programs and gaining valuable experience.

• Create and understand the technical design of the modules you write, and then test each component of your

work to make sure it performs as it should.

• Become familiar with XML as you use input required data to test your components.

• Employees are all knowledgeable, friendly and willing to help you through any difficulties you may face.

• You will be working on one of the largest databases in the world, on projects you might never have imagined

possible, which really gives you a lot of motivation to succeed!

• With Accenture being such a large company, you have the opportunity to work on different projects, and

explore new opportunities, which will all be very valuable and enjoyable experience (looks amazing on your

CV!)

Copyright © 2010 Accenture All Rights Reserved. Accenture, its logo, and High Performance Delivered are trademarks of Accenture.

Jonathon Knox – Computer Science

Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company. with more than 215,000people serving clients in more than 120 countries. Combining unparalleled experience, comprehensive capabilities acrossall industries and business functions, and extensive research on the world’s most successful companies, Accenturecollaborates with clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments.We have extensive relationships with the world's leading companies and governments and work with organizations of allsizes—including 94 of the Fortune Global 100Our Core Values have shaped the culture and defined the character of our company, guiding how we behave and makedecisions:

Stewardship - Best People - Client Value Creation - One Global Network - Respect for the Individual - Integrity

Placement Details : • Location: Longbenton, Newastle • Pay : £12,000

• Job Title: Programming Analyst• Holiday Arrangements: 25 Days

• Other Benefits: Flexible Working, Medical Insurance, Gym Subsidy, Season Ticket Loan.Details:Accenture - Helping Her Majesties Revenue & Customs (HMRC).My role at Accenture was on the National Insurance Recording System (NIRS2) Project in the Build team. My duties include:• Producing Low-Level Design Documents• Building ‘C/C++’ code modules and with Sybase SQL.• Component Testing of code• Production of Deliverables (Coding & Testing Documentation)Develop Team-work, communication and time-Management Skills while learning in the ‘real-world’!

Academic Registry

Employer: Academic registry within Northumbria University. The academic registry is responsible for

many of the important day to day processes. The main areas you will be working is the management of

student data, exam arrangements and congregations

Job title: IT placement

Location: Ellison Terrace, city campus

Holiday: 25 days + Bank Holidays + one flexi day a

month

Benefits: Flexi-time

Hours: 37 hours a week; Monday - Friday

Salary: £16,000

New skills/knowledge: Gain an insight into how the university works

Use SQL server to test and update web pages and databases

Learn advanced VBA programming A chance to advance your SQL

Create reports using SQL server reporting services and be able to see them used from staff around

the university.

Normal tasks: Be responsible for managing and updating a

number of key databases Support members of staff with queries Troubleshoot and fix staff computers

Aid the congregations team with congregation activities

Develop new features and procedures to try improve tasks

Use specialist software to manage students data (SITS)

.

My Words: “I have enjoyed working for Northumbria

University and I have gained more knowledge of the real

world than I could have hoped for and would

certainly do this placement again.

Greatest achievement: My greatest achievement has

been to completely change the way the university deals with congregation data and

to improve the congregation processes.

Massimiliano Baldanza

BSc (Hons) Computer studies

Merck Sharpe and Dohme

Cramlington “MSD is a global healthcare leader working to address unmet health

needs. We provide innovative medicines, vaccines, biologic therapies

and consumer and animal health products to help improve health and

well-being. We work with customers in 140 countries to deliver broad-

based healthcare solutions. The company is known as Merck in the

United States and Canada. Everywhere else, we are known as MSD.”

“I had a great time at Cramlington and was able to participate in exciting and innovative individual and group projects. I was

given the freedom to carry out my own jobs and have completed many cutting edge projects. I would definitely

recommend taking the opportunity to carry out an industrial placement.” W Renwick Computer Science 08/05/2011

Cramlington is one of the MSD’s leading manufacturing sites producing millions of

tablets a year. They have had interns from Northumbria university for the last 5 years.

MSD Cramlington is always pioneering new technologies such as the AGVs in the

picture below and the recent installation of two wind turbines on the site.

Nicola Stevens Computer Science

Extra Perks: - Cummins Reward Gateway – A discount scheme for all UK employees. Offers discounts,

cashback and discounted gift vouchers for 1000s of major retailers, online stores and supermarkets.

- Opportunities to volunteer within the community – Can work with local charities, conduct mock interviews and give presentations at local schools and go recruitment fairs to represent the company. I spent a day with a charity who take groups out on barges along the canal.

Placement Company: Cummins Turbo Technologies Ltd Job Title: IT Analyst Pay: £15,300 per annum Holiday: 26 days + bank holidays

Placement based in Huddersfield ,West Yorkshire. Lived in a student house which was a 25 minute walk away from work.

Cummins Turbo Technologies is a business unit of Cummins Inc., the largest independent maker of diesel engines and related products in the world with operations in more than 190 countries, employing 40,000 employees worldwide.

Main roles whilst on placement: - Change Control Assistant – Kept track of all the customisations for the Huddersfield and Aftermarket

UK sites. Worked with the offshore development team to track where each customisation was in the development life cycle to then give regular updates to the business

- Lotus Notes Coordinator – Similar to the role above. Was solely responsible for all customisations request to databases on the Lotus Notes system worldwide. This included working with business users to gather requirements and create requirement documents , then working closely with the development team to make sure they understood the requirement and track the progress of each item.

- Worked on Global project – Was part of team for a high priority global project which was to create a forecasting tool. This included keeping track of all IT developments for the project, working with the developers to meet deadline. Performing testing on customisations before they were released to the business users for testing.

- Creating monthly statistics – Gathered information on a monthly basis regarding the amount of changes done each month and how many Help Desk issues have been resolved. Created graphs which were used the IT Manager to present to the business.

Skills/Key Experiences: - Gained experience working within a major multinational company - Had a change to work with people of different functional areas, skills, expertise and experience. - Developed key skills needed when working – Communication, team work, organisation and confidence. - Had an insight to the opportunities and different roles available within a company and helped to decide

on a career path I would like to follow

About Accenture Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company, with more than 215,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries. Combining unparalleled experience, comprehensive capabilities across all industries and business functions, and extensive research on the world’s most successful companies, Accenture collaborates with clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments. The company generated net revenues of US$21.6 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2010.

Reece Lau Computer Science BSc

Job Description During my placement i worked on the National Insurance Recording System version 2 (NIRS2). It is one of the largest databases in the world. My role was in Live Support, Data Services as part of the Data Integrity Team. My main responsibility is developing scripts to solve a given problem that will provide information to the business and accurately update, delete or insert data to uphold the integrity of the NIRS2 system.

Placement Details Job Title: Analyst Programmer Salary: £12,000 Holiday: 25 days per annum Perks: Gym Discounts Corporate Football Tickets Free Eye Tests Discount for various stores Location: Longbenton, Newcastle

Accenture Core Values •Stewardship

•Best People

•Client Value Creation

•One Global Network

•Respect for the Individual

•Integrity

New & Improved Skills •SQL

•Unix

•Vi Text Editor

•Perl

•Problem Solving

List of some clients Microsoft Corporation

Starbucks

ITV

Sky

HMRC

KLM Royal Dutch Airlines

British Telecommunications

Alliance and Leicester

BP

Telefonica

Unilever

Vodafone

U.S Military

Volkswagen

IBM

Shell

Hyundai

Cannon

Cisco

eBay

Before Placement Getting an industrial placement as an international student

with just barely 3 years of living in the UK, with no previous

work experience was a daunting feeling. I felt my

communication skills and ability to develop a work base

relationship with other employees needed improving.

I also had doubts about my programming skills, if my

knowledge would be substantial enough to contribute and

help the team.

My Placement I worked in Newcastle UK at Longbenton. I was assigned to

the HMRC account and worked as a Level G Analyst

Programmer in the OCP (Office of Chief Programmer) team,

with a salary of £12,000.

I lived in Newcastle and took the local metro service to work

The Perks Free court side tickets to the Newcastle Eagles games.

Free director's box and platinum tickets for the Newcastle

United Football Club.

50% off gym membership up to £40.

Free AXA PPP personal care.

World class training and certification.

25 days holiday.

Team building night outs.

After Placement I have gained a couple of new skills during my placement

year but most importantly I have the experience needed to

work in a fast paced development environment.

I have also improved the ability to manage my time

efficiently and work independently.

Overall, my placement year has been very productive and

quite rewarding as it has helped me evaluate and match my

skills towards skills required by employers.

Tunde Akinnuwa

Bsc (Hons) Computing Studies

Accenture generates over 21 billion dollars in revenue,

every year

Job Role Working in the Office of Chief Programmer was very

interesting and gave me opportunities to work on different

aspects of the systems. I ran system builds using scripts written

in SHELL.

I was also in charge of internally used programs written in VBA

currently being used by over 5000 HMRC staff nationwide.

I also wrote scripts and programs which helped automation,

increased efficiency and reduced my team's work load.

I managed requests and access to servers using a wide range

software and procedures.

Skills and Knowledge Gained Programming skills gained;

VBA

Java

Shell Scripting

Communication skills gained;

Produced formal documentation for others to use.

Developed useful contacts with other teams

Management skills

Time management

Planning and preparation

Other skills gained;

Problem analyzing and solving

Team work

A very fulfilling year at Accenture

Employer Accenture is a global management consulting, technology

consulting and technology outsourcing company. With a

workforce of over 200,000 employees worldwide, Accenture

is a market leader and analysts favourite.

It offers its services in five different operational groups;

Communications and High Tech, Financial Services, Products,

Resources and Health & Public Services.

Its core values are Stewardship, Best People, Integrity, Respect

for Individuals, Client Value Creation and One Global

Network. These values help shape the culture and define the

character of the company.

Problems and Achievements During my placement year, I was faced with a variety

of problems. Some of which are;

Making decisions without supervision,

Meeting deadlines

Adhering to standards and documentation

My achievements include;

In charge of a software program used by over 5000

HMRC staff

Produced scripts used to improve workload

Achieve high level of professionalism

Advice for students When applying for a placement;

A good CV including your grades is always a plus.

Choose job roles that will show how good you are and

improve your abilities.

During placement;

Be eager to learn and put new ideas forward.

Reduce supervisor's input and strive to work independently.

Produce high quality of work..

Take responsibility and recognition for the work you have

done.

IT Support Analysis Placement

£15,000 annual salary 24 days paid holiday Work hours: 8.30am-4.30pm

Who are you going to be working for ? With a revenue of £14.1 billion in 2008 Akzo Nobel are one of the world’s leading industrial companies making paint coatings and chemicals. International paint are a part of the Akzo Nobel Performance Coatings group and are a worldwide business What will you be doing ? •1st Line Support and Active Directory management for users across Europe, Africa and the Middle East supporting over 2000 machines. •Site maintenance including software and hardware upgrades on local devices and troubleshooting network issues. What will you get out of the job ? Expect to increase your IT knowledge exponentially as you will get a huge amount of experience dealing with a variety of issues. Also the chance to visit a foreign country within the role and gain valuable experience abroad

William Lucas 08012016 Computer Studies

Greatest Achievement – Assisting in the rollout of a new patched image to all EMEA PCs Greatest Fear – Failing to fill the void left in the office by the previous student leaving

Hewlett Packard

www.hp.com

Lucy Dixon BSc (Hons) IT Management for Business

13 Month Internship

£14,000 Newcastle-Upon-Tyne

25 Days Holiday Flexible Working Hours

Roles

Alcatel Lucent PMO Administrator IT Support / Site Admin

The Alcatel Lucent PMO Admin role is a fast paced job,

which requires the ability to manage on-going activities, as

well as high priority requirements. As the PMO manages

worldwide projects, this requires very good written skills,

communication skills, and time management. Having the

ability of learning very quickly, and to know when you

should use your initiative is critical to success within this

role.

As an onsite administrator you will be expected to ensure the

site follows the HP and/or BSAS organization standards for

handling local site services with an emphasis on I.T. support.

Although technical knowledge of hardware/software is not a

requirement, it would be beneficial. Excellent communication

skills, ability to follow and enforce processes and be innovative

in your thought process to be able to come up with solutions

and suggestions for improvement on current processes. The

ability to document process and procedures is also a must.

Throughout the 13 months, the roles will rotate giving you exposure to different areas in the work place – with the opportunities to

experience other areas than the two described below.

Stuart Wilson BSc (Hons) Computing Studies

It’s your placement...

Fears before starting placement… ‘I’d be thrown into the work without support, or without knowing what I was doing’ – This was the

complete opposite, we had a 1 month hand over period, and had support throughout our whole time here. We

had a work based manager, but also a ‘buddy’ who we could go to with any problems, worries or questions!

‘I wouldn’t be treated like a real employee, and be would be given the jobs nobody else wanted’ –

I think this is something we all fear, but we have always been treated as any other employee would be, and

also given work which any other full time employee would work on, which means we have a lot of

responsibility, real work exposure and customers interaction.

HP Newcastle has numerous graduates who have experienced placements throughout their degree, therefore know that its

our opportunity to gain experience and exposure – Which means we drive our placement, its up to us to grab opportunities, its

up to us to speak up if we want to experience something new – if the work is available... You will get the chance!

Key Skills/Knowledge gained...

TIME MANAGEMENT

TEAM WORK (Office & Global)

ORAL AND WRITTEN COMMUNICATION SKILLS

HP SOFTWARE

ITIL – INDUSTRY RECOGNISED QUALIFICATION

SAP

PROJECT MANAGEMENT