I've just finished my first year of Electronic Engineering, and spending all my time drinking, playing video games and masturbating is starting to get a bit monotonous. I've got a placement year in my third year, so I thought I'd have a look at that.
Is it worth applying now? -- From my cursory skim of some websites, it seems applications aren't open yet, but there are forms and emails to be sent to. Would applying now make me look over-eager?
I'm very interested in spending the year abroad. In terms of placements abroad, is there anything I should be aware of, like work visas and the like? Are there any countries where English is not spoken as a native language but only knowing English would be good enough for a placement?
Has anyone done an engineering placement? Did you get a lot from it?
What is the application process? Do the university handle your placement completely and you just apply with a list of a few places you'd like to go? Or do you arrange with a company yourself for you to have a placement there?
If it's the former, there's no point in thinking into it too much now, but try to do less drinking, videogaming and masturbating (or at least make it less obvious) next year, because the department will undoubtedly determine who gets their first choice by who actually bothers with the course on campus and who gets the best grades. If it's the latter, it would probably benefit you to start scoping out places that you might like now and start sending out some emails to try to arrange your placement nice and early, so that the paperwork is less stressful later.
Are you sure you're allowed to go somewhere abroad?
It's worth learning about how to apply now, and getting the experience and general CV fodder to strengthen your application, whenever you make it. Ask your tutors. Go to careers centre events. Look up what companies offer. Try and get some work experience even if it's only a week or two. Contact HR people at various engineering firms; don't be a tool and only go for Bentley Systems, Thales and BAE, diversify your shit and go for the myriad of other large-medium-small engineering firms who can offer you experience. Just ring up the front desk and ask them who you should try to talk to.
>Would applying now make me look over-eager?
Who gives a fuck, it's your life.
A pro tip I have for added CV fodder is to attend chartered institution events of some kind (in your case, the IET - http://www.theiet.org/events/ ). You'll get to talk to people in the trade and possibly email addresses and more to try and get placements/work experience off. Most events will be free, though they may be very heavily booked in advance.
>>5744 I didn't do a placement but probably should have.
One thing to take into account is that a successful placement could well lead you into a safe job after graduation. Another is that throughout the placement you should be thinking about what you will be doing for your final year project. Ideally you will choose something similar to what you have spent the last year working on / with and maybe even in conjunction with or sponsored by your employer. My uni loved joint projects as it can get you a newspaper article and lets the higher ups wave their dicks about a bit. It looks good on the CV too.
Going abroad may be better suited as a summer project for 2-3 months instead of a full year. If you hate the work or the location then you can either soldier through or just piss off home without much of an impact on your degree.
>>5745 As far as I'm aware, it's the latter. And the implication was that we could as long as the tutors can easily get there, which may rule anywhere outside of Europe out -- which would then mean I have to stay in the UK because I don't think anywhere else would take too kindly to someone who doesn't speak the native language.
