Yr2 T Level Computing students Charlie Bainbridge, Luciano Moore, Charlotte Jacklin and Josh Ellicott On the 25th of September at the Manchester College second year Digital T-Level students presented back their experience of their extended industry placements at Lloyds Banking Group.
Students discussed their journey from initial bootcamps, training on platforms such as Pluralsight, increasing understanding and finally working on live projects, making use of the Agile project methodology, such as sprints. One student even held the role of Scrum Master and participated in an away day to Leeds.
Students shared insights on technologies and processes used on placement and how this fed into their current studies. Students also discussed the transferable employability skills that are essential in the workplace, along with recent technologies such as Tableau, SQL, Excel, Node.js, MongoDB and React.
Students also discussed the working environment and the level of independence they had, the social atmosphere around the workplace, and the level of flexibility in terms of the working day. Also, the buddy system, in which students had regular meetings with a buddy to check on progress.
The students discussed the various roles available in Lloyds Banking Group, such as Business Management, which had a focus on the project management roles. Networking opportunities – discussions with staff about their careers, in addition to this, students were able to discuss their involvement in social schemes, such as a new colleague recognition scheme.
Many of the students placed at Lloyds Banking Group have applied for their Degree Apprenticeship course and are currently waiting to see if they are successful.
Here are top placement tips from the students:
· Be pro-active.
· Be yourself.
· Be ready to take up challenges.
· Talk to people/network – engage with team members.
· Play the T-Level card – let people at your placement know what you are studying.
· Maintain a good work-life balance.
· Develop skills that align to your future career.
