Special Post #28: Placement Year

As part of my course we get the option to go on a year in industry between the 2nd and 3rd year. I figured this would be a brilliant opportunity to get hands on experience working in the technology industry and to put what I’ve learnt so far into practice.

My department sends out information about placement opportunities, but being an Electronic Engineering degree, they are predominately engineering based. There has however been the odd placement that has got me really excited…

1. Siemens -- Undergraduate Broadcast Trainee. Delivering broadcast systems projects for the BBC. Sounds very cool and exactly up my street, but I get the impression it’s going to be more office work than hands on, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as long as its interesting and relevant. Also, the students offered placements last year were turned down at the last minute, due to the recession, so even if they offer me a place, I’ll have to have a backup me-thinks…
2. Sony -- Testing of Outside Broadcast Vehicles. That’s worth saying again: designing and testing OB vehicles!! This is the place I am most excited about. For those who don’t know an OB vehicle are those huge BBC trucks you see with satellites on top that are essentially a portable control room. They take multiple camera feeds, can be live edited and processed, then distributed to elsewhere. At the moment, I think this is my dream: I love media and technology and this is such a great combination of both!
3. Sky -- Outside Broadcasting. Josh’s dad used to work at Sky, and he’s sent off our CV’s to see if we can get places working in the OB department. Very cool, but I’m not getting my hopes up.
4. Sony -- R&D. Working in the Sony research lab programming PlayStation platforms and providing usability feedback. This was the placement I was really looking forward to applying for, but I’m supposedly only allowed to apply to one of the two Sony placements. I like the other one better. But I’m trying to apply for both anyway, because I like programming :)
5. BBC -- Future Media & Technology. Production technology, communications systems, transmitters, receivers, and new types of domestic equipment are all potential projects. And it’s the BBC!! Lots of people apply for this placement, so I’m not hopeful, but it would be the dogs bollocks!

I’ve applied to all these places in the last month, and haven’t heard a single word back yet. I can’t see any more places I really want to apply for, so these are my 5 eggs, all in the placement basket. Let’s see which ones hatch…