is an undergraduate placement the gateway or is more needed?

I understand the difficulty of getting a job in IT/CS. that is why i am making sure i am doing a placement year. The uni i hope to go to has some great industry partners (Google, Goldman Sachs, Zurich).

Let's say i am lucky and get to work at one of these places for a year, and lets also assume that i work in a relative field, would i be in a good position once graduated? Or not much better off? I understand job offers are usually the end product of these placements, but are they the basic graduate salary? (20-24k) or perhaps a bit more?

Reply 1

username738914

Original post by Bobjim12

Just know that industry partners doesn't exactly coincide with easier chances landing these schemes, you're applying and competing for them entirely by yourself. They are very difficult to pin down but entirely doable with the right preparation and attitude - just wanted dispel to that.

Salary depends on industry, location and company. Google (and other such companies like Facebook, Uber etc) pay about £50k base salary + restricted stock + year end bonus to their software engineers in London (more in Zurich) which will boost total compensation. Microsoft and Amazon are a bit less. Investment banks are usually £38-45k + a smallish bonus in London (less in regional areas like Glasgow and Bournemouth). Most other places will be less, vast majority fall in the £20-35k range for non top tech/finance.

As far as I'm aware Google and other tech companies only do internships (not placement years), financial firms sometimes have both internships and placement years (internships are still the prevalent path). Personally, an internship or two (or three) in the summer will suffice with converting into a grad offer.

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(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 2

mhsc

Honestly, there is a HUGE dearth of CS people compared to the jobs out there. I got a 30k+ job with 0 experience on my first interview, while clearly and honestly stating to them that I had no experience and, even worse, hadn't programmed in several years. Got hired on the spot because companies are desperate. There are far more jobs and tech companies than there are people to fill the roles, and recruiting from abroad (the main solution) is potentially getting a lot harder because of Brexit.

If you are smart and prepare well, you will get a job with 0 problems.

Reply 3

username1799249

If you have the opportunity to do a placement you would be a fool to turn it down. It doesn't have to be 100% relevant to where you might want to end up, but for me, it serves three useful purposes:
1. It gives you that all important 1 years of work experience. It proves you know what a working day is at the very least.
2. It gives you a perspective and focus on what your degree is for. For me, it was a huge motivator for my final year.
3. It pays real money so if you are prudent, you should be able to save a couple of grand to help out with your final year.

Do it and good luck!