We’re occasionally asked by school pupils, their parents and teachers about where young people can find out about work experience in something to do with computer science. We’ve put together some general information which we hope is helpful, and there’s also information further down the page that might be useful for people who’ve finished a computing degree and are wondering “What’s next?”.
Work experience for school students
(This section was originally published on our website for teachers – Teaching London Computing).
Supermarkets – not in the store but in the office, learning about inventory software used to manage stock for in-store shopping as well as online shopping (e.g. Ocado etc).
Shops – more generally pretty much every shop has an online presence and may want to display items for sale (perhaps also using software to handle payment).
Websites – someone who’s a blacksmith might not use a computer in their work directly, but the chances are they’d want to advertise their metal-flattening skills to a wider audience which is only really possible with a web presence.
Websites involve technical aspects (not necessarily Python types of things but certainly HTML and CSS / JavaScript) but also making websites accessible for users with visual impairments, e.g. labelling elements helpfully and remembering to add ALT TEXT for users of screenreaders. Technical skills are important but thinking about the end-user is super-important too, and often a skill that people pick up ‘on the job’ rather than being trained about (though that is changing).
Usability – making websites or physical products (e.g. home appliances, cameras, phones, printers, microwaves) easier to use by finding out how easily users can interact with them and considering options for improvement. For computing systems this involves HCI (human-computer interaction) and UX (user experience – e.g. how frustrating is a website?).
Transport – here in London we have buses with a GPS transponder that emits a signal which is picked up by sensors, co-ordinated and translated into real-time information about the whereabouts of various buses on the system. Third-party apps can also use some of this data to provide a service for people who want to know the quickest route to a particular place.
Council services – it’s possible to pay parking fines, council tax and other things online, also utility company bills. The programs involved here need to keep people’s private data secure as well.
Banks – are heavy users of ‘fintech’ (financial technology) and security systems, though that might preclude them taking on people in a work experience setting. Similarly GP surgeries have dedicated IT systems (such as EMIS) for handling confidential patient information and appointments. Even if they can’t take on tech work experience students they may have other work experience opportunities.
Places that offer (or have previously offered) work experience
Other resources
Indeed.com website
How to find work experience (Year 12 student guide)
TechDevJobs website
Our ‘jobs in computing’ resource (homepage) should give you an idea of the different sectors which employ all sorts of computer scientists to do all sorts of different things (see the list of jobs organised by sector). There are about 70 80 jobs there so far; it doesn’t cover everything though (that’s almost an impossible task!).
There are obvious computing-related jobs such as a software company looking for a software developer but there’s also a job for a lawyer-researcher (someone who is able to practise as a lawyer if necessary but is going to be doing research) into Cloud Computing. For example there are all sorts of regulatory aspects to computing, some currently under consideration by the UK Government on data leaks, privacy, appropriateness of use and how securely information is stored, and what penalties there are for misuse.
Possibly a local law firm is doing some work in this area and might be open to offering work experience.
Other resources for recent graduates
The TechDev Jobs website (listed above in Other resources) is a great place to start. The jobs ‘advertised’ are usually closed but the collection lists several organisations that are currently employing people in the field of computer science (in the widest sense) and we are adding more all the time. Finding out about jobs is also about finding out about different sectors, some of which you might not have heard of yet – but they are all potential sources of jobs for people with computing skills.
Recent graduates or soon-to-graduate students may be able to help newer students get to grips with things in the Year 1 modules. Sometimes it’s not the computer science and programming that they or the lecturers need assistance with but really practical stuff like logging on and finding the relevant resources.
Education / schools: the UK Government has a ‘Get into Teaching’ website with a page on Becoming a computing teacher. You can also find teacher vacancies at the TES website, here’s what jobs are currently available for secondary teachers but you can filter by type of role and location.
The Find A Job website from DWP (https://findajob.dwp.gov.uk/search) can be filtered by location and keyword too. Put in a keyword and see what pops up, then filter by salary etc.
Further study: if you’re interested in continuing your studies you might consider a Masters degree (MSc) in computer science and see the panel below for information on studying for a PhD, for which you are usually paid.
The Prospects website has a page called What can I do with a computer science degree?, which should give you an idea of options and help you widen your search.
The Entry Level Games site isn’t a jobs board but if you’re interested in games design then it gives you a really helpful overview of some of the typical roles, what’s needed to do those roles and information from people who’ve done those jobs.
If you are interested in creating assistive technology or making computing more inclusive you might be interested in the work of the Global Disability Innovation Hub.
Networking is also a good idea to build up contacts and hear about different roles, some people find LinkedIn useful as an online version of networking and as a great place to hear about newly-opened vacancies. You can also take part in local hackathons, or volunteer at code clubs etc. This sort of thing is useful for your CV too.
There are probably organisations near you and it’s fairly likely that they’ll be using computers in one way or another, and you might be useful to them. Open up Google Maps and navigate to where you’re living, then zoom in and see what organisations are nearby. Make a note of them and if they have a vacancies page save that link in a document so that you can visit it every so often and see if a relevant new job has been added. Or contact them speculatively with your CV.
If you have a Gmail account you can set up Google Alerts. Whenever a new web page (e.g. a new job vacancy is published) that satisfies your search criteria you’ll get a daily email with a summary of what’s been added and the link to find out more. This is a way of bringing the job adverts to you!
Further reading
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