ICT Undergraduate Work Experience

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A guide for Employers ICT Students on Work Placement Do you have limited IT resources or a requirement for special project work to be undertaken? If yes, have you considered an IT work placement student from National College of Ireland

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ICT Undergraduate Work Experience

Transcript of ICT Undergraduate Work Experience

Page 1: ICT Undergraduate Work Experience

A guide for Employers

ICT Students on Work PlacementDo you have limited IT resources or a requirement for special project work to be undertaken?

If yes, have you considered an IT work placement student from National College of Ireland

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Boost Your Business With an IT Student Placement 1

Practical Information 2

Degree Programme Subjects 4

What Languages, Programmes and Technologies have 6 degree students worked on?

What can students do on placement? 7

Interested? What to do next ! 8

What Employers Say 10

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BOOST YOUR BUSINESS WITH AN IT STUDENT PLACEMENTNational College of Ireland is a vibrant and dynamic place to study. Our degree programmes are designed with real businesses in mind, so we are proud to work with employers ranging from large multinationals to small SMEs across all industry sectors who help inform our course delivery and development.

National College of Ireland’s Career Development and Employability Service manages the work placement programmes for the Faculty of Computing. The work placement office is currently working with almost 200 computing students actively seeking work placements in industry.

Why should you take a work placement student?

•Raise your organisation’s profile whilst gaining early access to a large pool of talented and motivated IT students to assist with one off projects or peaks in workload.

• Gain a skilled extra resource at lower cost to ease the workload on experienced staff.

• Having a student to mentor can contribute to the professional development of your staff

• Employees of tomorrow: Employing a student gives you the opportunity to identify and develop future graduates entering the workforce. Many employers are so impressed with their placement students that they become permanent employees after graduation, gain entry to their graduate scheme, or stay with the organisation on a part-time basis during their final year of studies.

• Gain an ‘ambassador’ for your company- A work placement student will return to study at NCI speaking positively about their placement experience and effectively act as a brand ambassador for your organisation

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PRACTICAL INFORMATION!

Are there any rules about placements?Placements need to give the students practical work experience within IT and should be directly relevant to the student’s degree course.

Placements must be supervised by an IT professional.

We regard the placement as a three-way partnership between the employer, the student and the College and we would expect to take any action necessary to ensure a student is proving to be an effective, safe and reliable employee. Therefore, staff at the Faculty of Computing will visit students and their supervisors during the placement period.

How long are work placements for? Undergraduate students studying on the BSc (Hons) in Computing and BSc (Hons) in Business Information Systems commence work placement in their third year from January/February for 6 months minimum (full-time) and return to their 4th and final year in September. Students may be available to remain in employment until September if both parties are in agreement.

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Payment? The majority of student placements are paid. There is no set rate of pay for placement however we recommend at least minimum wage. The college on occasion accepts unpaid placements from employers. We suggest that employers who are unable to pay a full wage cover at least travel and subsistence expenses.

We welcome the opportunity to speak with employers about payment rates and options.

How are placement organised? If you are interested in recruiting a work placement student, please contact the Work Placement Office at National College of Ireland. Full contact details are listed on the back page.

PRACTICAL INFORMATION!

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DEGREE PROGRAMME SUBJECTS

• Introduction to Programming• Introduction to Mathematics• Introduction to Computers• HTML & Web Design• Introduction to Mathematics for Computing• Personal & Professional Development• Introduction to Multimedia• Managerial Foundations of Information Systems• Computer Architecture• Object Oriented Programming• Operating Systems

Year 1

BSc (Hons) Computing

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Year 2• Introduction to Software Engineering• Introduction to Databases• Web Development• Data Structures and Algorithms• Business Entrepreneurship• Object Oriented Software Engineering• Advanced Databases• Project• Data Communication & Networking• Software Project Management

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Year 3 Year 4• Advanced Internet Technologies• Team Project• Introduction to Artificial Intelligence• Wireless Networking• Advanced Programming• Work Placement

• Software Project • Change Management• Network Programming and Distributed Systems• Computer Graphics Design & Animation• Business and Network Security• Strategy Management• Applied Artificial Intelligence• Distributed Systems• Multimedia and Mobile Application Development

• Cloud Computing

Year 4 - Areas of specialisation:• Gaming and Multimedia Design Specialisation• Networking and mobile Technologies specialisation

• Software Systems Specialisation• Cloud Computing Specialisation

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• Introduction to Programming• Introduction to Mathematics for Computing• Introduction to Computers• HTML & Web Design• Personal & Professional Development• Managerial Foundations of Information • Systems• Object Oriented Programming• Introduction to Multimedia• Computer Architecture• Operating Systems

Year 1

BSc Honours in Business Information Systems

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Year 2• Introduction to Software Engineering• Introduction to Databases• Web Development• Data Structures and Algorithms• Business Entrepreneurship• Object Oriented Software Engineering• Advanced Databases• Project• Data Communications and Networking• Software Project Management

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Year 3 Year 4• Advanced Internet Technologies• Introduction to Artificial Intelligence• Wireless Networking• Management Support Systems• Team Project• Work Placement

• Software Project• Change Management• Business Data Analysis• Business Network and Security• Software Project• Strategy Management• Business Process Engineering

• Applied Artificial Intelligence

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WHAT LANGUAGES, PROGRAMMES AND TECHNOLOGIES HAVE UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS WORKED ON?

• Java• HTML• XHTML• CSS• Java Script • XML• MYSQL

Languages

• Apache web server • MYSQL• Sun Web • Web Services• Application Server

• Windows • Windows XP• Windows Vista• Windows 7• Windows Server 2003• UNIX

• Dreamweaver• HTML• Macromedia Flash• XHMTL• CSS

• TCP/IP• Sockets• Wireless LAN

Communications• Switching

Technologies Operating Systems

Web Development & Multimedia

Networking

• NetBeans • Dreamweaver• Microsoft Office • Rational Rose• Micro Project• Eclipse

Applications

BSc in Computing Students and BSc Business Information Systems

Note: Students from the BSc (Hons) Computing and the BSc (Hons) Business Information Systems share common subject modules in the first two years of their degree and as a result have studied many of the

same languages, programmes and technologies.

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WHAT CAN STUDENTS DO ON PLACEMENT?Included is an indicative but not exhaustive list of opportunities at a junior level that would typically suit work placement students:

BSc Honours in Computing with specialisations in Cloud Computing, Networking and Mobile Technologies, Software Systems and Gaming and Multimedia Design Software Engineer

• Systems Analyst• Java Developer • Web Development • .Net Developer • Test Engineer • IT Sales and Support • Technical Support• e-Learning Development • IT Helpdesk

BSc Honours in Business Information Systems

• Data Analyst • Business Analyst • Software Engineer • Systems Analyst • Java Developer • Web Development • Test engineer• IT Sales & Support • e-Learning Development

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INTERESTED? What to do next! Pre-Placement Process

Contact Contact the Work Placement Office to discuss your requirement.

Job Description Prepare and forward a detailed job description to the Work Placement Office.

Advertise Job Details of all opportunities are advertised to students by the Work Placement Office. Students express their interest in the opportunity to the work placement office within 2 working days. We encourage employers to consider the benefits of taking more than one student.

Be a Guest Speaker We would be delighted to welcome you to National College of Ireland to present both your company and the opportunity to the class of students. Please speak with the Work Placement Office to arrange a presentation

Review CV’s The Work Placement Office forwards CV’s to the organisation and the organisation selects students to interview (Organisations are advised to interview as soon as possible after receipt of CVs, as students may be placed elsewhere in the intervening period)

Interview & Select • The Work Placement Office contacts students and organises all interviews. • The organisation selects students they wish to offer work placements to.• All work placement offers must be made via the Work Placement Office. (Students can apply to several organisations but must accept the first firm offer of placement made to them via the Work Placement Office.)

Contracts and Agreements • The college strongly advises that organisations issue a fixed term contract of employment together with details on their policies/work practice procedures to students. We request that you also forward this completed to the college for our records. • A tri-party agreement will be signed whereby the college, the student and the employer sign and pledge their intention for a successful placement.

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During placement

An Induction The student’s placement should commence with an induction process which will familiarise them with the company, culture, working practices and health & safety. The benefits of having an induction far outweigh the initial effort required.

Review & Sign the student’s and monthly reports Work supervisors must approve and sign the student’s Monthly Learning and Final Work Placement Report.

Site Visit by the College The college will schedule a site visit to your office approximately midway through the placement. In some instances, a visit may not be possible and in such circumstances the assessment may be conducted by phone.

Issues with the student during Placement Please notify the Work Placement Office immediately should you experience any issues with a work placement student.

End of Placement Process Feedback Employer’s feedback will be sought on completion of the work placement. Information such as whether they would consider rehiring the student, any improvements that could be made to the placement programme or any feedback on course module design is welcome.

Further Employment Employers wishing to retain work placement students for further employment should discuss the options available with the NCI Work Placement Office.

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WHAT EMPLOYERS SAY!

“Our NCI student joined Microsoft Ireland in order to get first-hand experience with building international software, having a strong technical background from the National College of Ireland he quickly exceeded our expectation by completing new and challenging projects at a professional level. Our student’s passion for designing and developing software is evident in his work and he went above and beyond by volunteering for charity work and initiating side projects with other Microsoft interns”.- Microsoft

“At Datalex we are a world class provider of travel ecommerce. We bring those standards to our search for top talent.We were delighted therefore to participate in the Student Work Placement Programme at the National College of Ireland. Our experienceboth of the student and the support from the college itself has been excellent. We would have no hesitation in recommending the National College of Ireland’s Work Placement Programme and look forward to partnering with them in the future”.- Datalex

“The process of a placement was hassle free. The student we received was excellent. If an opportunity arose in the future I would contact him as he was a perfect match for our company and for our team. He was extremely professional and flexible. I would recommend him for any future employment”.- Arvato Finance

“Our NCI student demonstrated great initiative, team work, ability to learn quickly. He took on responsibility for tasks we would normally give to a permanent employee .This scheme has been very beneficial to the student and to Intel.”- Intel

“Rentview as a start up had a critical need for a graphic designer intern. We engaged with the National College of Ireland and they sent along CV’s on prospective candidates. We were delighted with the quality of work produced by our intern, who helped design brochures, business card, advertisements, web pages, logos and much more. This work proved valuable for such an early stage start-up company”.- Rentview

“Our NCI student provided us with much needed help to address both our day to day tasks and one off requests, definitely a valuable resource to have across the board. In summary the student placement programme from the National College of Ireland was a valuable exercise to be involved with and would recommend to any other Company”.- DAA (Dublin Airport Authority)

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WHAT EMPLOYERS SAY!“Camara took on several placement students from NCI and were absolutely delighted with the support and standard of work which we received from them. We found the students to be enthusiastic, motivated and eager to learn and we certainly hope to take on more students in the future. I would highly recommend this programme to any company”.- Camara

“The NCI Student Placement Programme has assisted AMT-SYBEX by allowing such activities as internal software development, research, testing, analysis and release preparation to be ably carried out by our NCI placement student. In general it opens companies up to fresh ideas, new perspectives and approaches to particular areas, increasing awareness in the relevant discipline, and also provides a fast track link for the employer to a future workforce.

The NCI Student Placement Programme establishes a good link back to third level to provide the student with exposure to the workplace, to various work related skills, allowing them to put academic theory to practice and assist with personal and professional growth.”- AMT-SYBEX

“NCI work placement students have contributed greatly to the work of HEAnet. We have come to expect a very high standard from those students that present for interview and we look forward to working with the NCI Student Work Placement Programme for many years to come.”- HEAnet

“Our experience with the NCI placement programme has been excellent. The recruitment process itself was very well organised, easy to manage from our point of view and it took up very little time. The two students that we took on worked out extremely well. They were very productive from early on in their placement and we found them a pleasure to deal with throughout. We will hopefully be offering employment to them both and would have no hesitation in working with the NCI programme again”.- Ultan Technologies

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National College of Ireland, Mayor Street, IFSC, Dublin 1

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For more information or to submit a work placement opportunity please contact the work placement office:

Siobhan MocklerWork Placement Office Career Development & EmployabilityTel: (Direct): +353 1 4498558Email: [email protected]: www.ncirl.ie/careers

Kate CoughlanWork Placement OfficeCareer Development & EmployabilityTel: (Direct): +353 1 4498586Email: [email protected]: www.ncirl.ie/careers

National College of IrelandMayor Street, IFSC, Dublin 1Tel: (Reception): +353 1 4498500Fax: +353 1 497 2200