I’m Going Straight Into Third Year Without A Placement And I Have No Regrets

You can read the title and guess what my main point is. And you’re right!

There are some things I still want to say, though.

First of all, you’re probably wondering why I don’t regret going through all these interviews and tests just to repeatedly get close but no cigar. Well, these were pretty much my first ever first-hand experiences with interviews and applications processes. In most applications processes, for pretty much any job, you’ll have to do an interview, whether it’s virtual or in-person, one or more, behavioural or technical (usually the former), HireVue or Zoom (for virtual interviews). And they’re daunting as all heck, so you’ll need some practice.

I’ve had a few practice interviews before, but I still learnt many things about how well I’m doing and where I could improve on each time. And, even after rejection after rejection, I kept getting better and more comfortable at properly presenting myself. Though I didn’t secure a placement that way, I have no doubt that the skills I have attained will be useful when I apply again for jobs upon graduation. I also became more and more sociable in-person during the “open assessment day” I’ve had for my final placement application, which ended in rejection 2 days ago. I even made a new friend on that assessment day, who ultimately did get an offer.

Adam Steinmetz, if you’re reading this (and I know you’ll read this cause I told you I’d give you a shout out and send you this article), best of luck with your placement. I’m proud of ya, buddy. Also, your Discord name’s the same as an artist that had a UK number one hit in 1990 with Seal (yeah, the guy behind “Kiss From A Rose”), and that makes me very happy. I hear you’re also a Hungarian water polo player apparently, but the face really doesn’t line up with the face I remember seeing that day so 🤷‍♂️

Of course this does mean I’m finishing next year instead of the year after, and it does mean the coming year is going to be more stressful and busy (I was really hoping to attain more free time to work on this blog and other projects). I guess this is no longer “What I have to suffer through until I turn 22” and is now “What I have to focus on until I turn 21” but, hey, at least I get to finish my degree and leave Kings sooner! 🤪

One more other thing I wanted to mention: When I got news of the rejection, I was honestly coping better than I expected to, but this morning I read a short book called Who Moved My Cheese? It’s most commonly associated with business and corporate scenarios, but its overarching theme of accepting change and “moving with the Cheese,” as it were, greatly applies here. I was so focused on securing a placement during the summer that occasionally forgot I was going to Kings for mainly a degree and not just a job gateway (which, in many cases, a degree basically is, anyway), and I was intensely worried about what would happen to my career if I didn’t have this whole year as a bleeding intern prior to me getting an actual job after university. The placement was my “Cheese” and, as the deadline for securing one crept closer, it was soon becoming “Old Cheese,” and I was soon facing the prospect of having to savour the “New Cheese” that was the final year of my degree, so when I got the last rejection, I knew I’d have to pick my modules and “move with the Cheese.” In hindsight, I’ve come to realise something I should’ve already kept in mind all this time: An industrial placement is just one of many valid paths to a fruitful career in software engineering. And you know what else is a valid path? A bog-standard Computer Science (or maybe even Maths) degree! Heck, these days, some people get good coding jobs without degrees!

While I was musing over this, as the writing of this article led me to midnight, I realised something else about this whole placement ordeal: Maybe I was too worried about the present and not thinking further into the future. In hindsight it was definitely a “live fast” and “start early” thing that I was worried about, but who’s to say I need a placement to get a First Class for my degree? It’s still possible. Heck, considering the, uh, questionable teaching quality in some of my modules, securing a First Class for this year alone was a huge sigh of relief for me (Adam, if you’re still reading this, be glad you go to Brunel and not Kings!) and if I was able to do that this year, I have reason to believe I can do that next year too, even with the return to in-person closed-book exams. Plus, I’m 20 at the moment. If I had a placement, I’d be finishing my course at 22. Now I get to finish and maybe even join the workforce at 21 (and I’m sure the right opportunity will find me by then), this time with a complete qualification to boot. Heck, I didn’t even think about what I’d do after my degree (I still don’t know)!

Do I regret initially taking the Year in Industry course, though? No! And, honestly, I would still advise other students to try secure a placement, and not just because of the interview practice you’ll get and the fact that an industrial placement will be a valuable experience (for which you’ll get paid!!), but also because, with many applications, you’ll get to see what ghosting in an important situation truly feels like! 😭

And even if you don’t find a placement before the deadline (I had my deadline extended and I still didn’t get one), remember that you’re not a failure because of that. I don’t believe I’m a failure! I fail at certain things in life, but I also succeed in many others. For most if not all of you, the exact same applies!

I guess that means I’ll have to remove the opening paragraph of my (current, not old) CV at some point until I can find something more appropriate to replace it, since I’m no longer searching for a industrial placement as part of my course. And what replaces it partly depends on what I plan to pursue after I finish my Bachelors. Do I want a graduate job or a Masters? I don’t know, and God knows when I will. I still have time to think about that, though.

I also still have a little less than a month of my holidays, before the aforementioned final year’s studies really begin, so right now, instead of dwelling on my supposed ‘failure,’ I shall enjoy my first of two nights at a cottage in Cumbria before I set off with my family to Glasgow for 3 more nights, then to Manchester for one more night before we head home. And I will also pick my modules and re-enrol to KCL for my third and final year. Peace!