Megan is a Computer Science student from Cardiff University. She secured a Technology placement at Capital One in Nottingham, through Bright Network. 
First, please tell us a little bit about yourself.
“I'm a second year Computer Science student at Cardiff University. I’ve always been interested in how things work. During secondary school, I learnt about Computer Science and decided to apply to do it at A-Level, because I enjoyed the subject and found it really interesting.
I then decided to study the subject at university, because although I didn’t know exactly what I wanted to do, I knew I wanted to work with computers. I came to university to learn more and to figure out exactly what I want to specialise in.
I’m a social person and have loved meeting new people at university, along with the freedom and independence moving to a new place brings. One reason I applied to do a Placement Year is to be able to move to a new place again and to be able to meet new people, through Computer Science, but also through my other interests such as dance, languages and music.”
What motivated you to apply for your role?
“I’ve done work in all areas, software and web development, hardware and even teaching computing, but I decided to apply for Software Engineering roles as this was the area that interested me the most.
When I saw the Capital One job description, I was motivated to apply as it had an element of web development, mobile development and also had a big aspect of cyber security which I knew I wanted to get more experience in.
Throughout the experience there’s also opportunities to work in other areas like API development and back-end work, which I knew would give me the chance to work in multiple different areas, giving me the chance to learn what fields I enjoy.”
What was the application process like?
“My application process was quite unexpected. After my initial application the first thing I completed was a coding assessment, followed by a few virtual interviews which consisted of a values-based interview, a presentation, a technical interview and one about my motivations for applying.
Although this took time, it was valuable to get the opportunity to meet multiple people from the company and to be able to show multiple sides of myself.
I had lots of phone calls with the team to prepare before interviews and feedback after each call, which made the interview less stressful as I knew what was happening and how I was performing throughout the process.”
How did Bright Network help you secure your role?
“I found the job advertised on Bright Network.
At first I was unsure where to find placements and searched a few different job boards, before I discovered Bright Network. The layout is very readable, and I could easily filter the jobs depending on what I wanted.”
What are you most proud of about your journey?
“I was really worried about the technical coding test and felt I didn’t do as well as I could have, as I had syntax errors in my solutions which brought my mark down.
I wasn’t sure whether I’d get through to the next stage, so was proud that I did, as it meant I had another opportunity to showcase my skills and show that I’d be a good part of their team.”
How was your overall application journey?
“My application journey was quite long, as I’d applied to quite a few placements and kept getting rejected. I got quite far in a couple of applications before getting rejected which was quite demotivating.
I didn’t think so many rejections would affect me as much as they did, but I decided to keep applying and carrying on with initial interviews anyway. I eventually got through to the initial stages of Capital One and everyone I spoke to was lovely. Even though the process was long I liked being able to talk to multiple people at the company, because I was able to see multiple sides to the company.
One thing that surprised me during my application journey was how much time applications actually took. I’d spend five hours a week completing applications, doing assessments, taking part in video interviews and found it quite difficult to keep on top of my uni work. If I knew this beforehand, I’d have been able to better plan and would have been less stressed overall.”
What have you learnt from going through the process?
"I have learnt that I have a lot more skills and assets than I thought. Before the process I was very unconfident about my skills as a computer scientist, but having to talk to so many people about my abilities made me realise I know a lot more than I thought!
It’s also given me a lot more practice at job interviews. Before this I’d never done an assessment for a job or a technical interview but now I understand what to expect and will be much more confident going into all kinds of interviews in the future.”
What are your tips for people looking to follow in your footsteps?
“My advice would be to apply to lots of placements and don’t worry about getting rejections – you only need one acceptance!
My other advice would be to only apply to placements you actually want, because you’re less likely to perform well if you aren’t passionate about it. It also gives you a lot more work when applying and the workload is already intense, so you don’t need to add more to your workload for something you don’t actually want.”
Tell us about the future. What’s next?
“I’m looking forward to starting my placement and to begin learning more about the field, along with new skills, technologies and frameworks.
I’m also very excited to move to another city. I loved the change of moving for university, so I’m excited to do it again!
I want to put a lot of effort into exploring other interests during the year, like joining dance studios and continuing language lessons. I love meeting people through these and having a wide range of friends that I meet in different ways.”
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