Will has been working in our team for a week and we thought you might like to hear his view from the inside!
Ok so I have been doing a week’s work experience at Microsoft in the Marketing department. One of the main reasons for doing this is to gain a genuine insight into IT as industry, none of the rubbish you’re expected to learn and even care about at A level. I am trying to decide what is best for me in terms of Uni or what have you so arranging meetings with loads of interns and full time employees has been good.
For those of you who are also finding their A level course a general waste of their incredibly valuable time, I would highly recommend placements in an industry such as Microsoft. If you can’t get one for your year 12 work experience then try applying for an internship through people you know, parents, relatives etc! I cannot vouch for all placements but here, the guys are more than willing to sit down for half an hour and chat about their experiences. The environment is relaxed and just makes this industry seem like the perfect place to work. You will be utterly surprised what you learn in a very short space of time and trust me you got to make the most of it.
I am passionate about IT I just don’t know what I specialise in yet. In A level I am taught things I have known from being in year seven; however from talking to some of the guys here I have realised the advantages of just spending my time outside of school/college productively. Get yourself some software, try out being a developer, design an app, build a web page, do something for yourself.
Software on a student’s budget without delving into our parents pockets can be an expense that we would rather not have the burden of. While at Microsoft I was notified of a scheme that they run which gives students software… for FREE! Unless you haven’t heard of it, the scheme is called Dream Spark and can be found at www.dreamspark.com.
It is broken up into three simply steps but I don’t want to ruin the surprise too much so why not check it out. Give yourself a better opportunity and apply for a code now!!
If you are passionate about IT but feel lost, do something about it, work experience has taught me to tick off the things I don’t want to do and has made my life a hell of a lot easier!
Will Corston
@willcors