We were recently asked about opportunities for school students wanting to undertake some work experience related to computer science and came up with some suggestions below which might be a useful place to start.
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 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.
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