How my course is preparing me for my career

Real work experience

To start with, as part of my course I am required to take a placement year in the industry to be able to get work experience to supplement my learning. I think the placement year is a great opportunity and is very important as it helps us to explore potential career paths. It is also essential as it provides students with valuable work experience while developing transferable skills for the future.

There are two ways that you can choose your placement. You can look for one on your own or seek guidance from the Leeds Beckett Placement Team. This team has been a great help to me as they not only provide details for the placement opportunities, but I also liaise with the careers team as they provide CV writing tips and offer mock interviews which are all really helpful before you complete a placement.

If you are a student currently looking for placement opportunities you can therefore go to MyBeckett, click on opportunities then Placement and you will see a link to the Placement Opportunities Page. The link contains numerous opportunities to apply for. It also has links to the different support teams. There is also sufficient support from the placement team if you feel stuck on your application.

Focus on soft skills

Another thing I like about my course is that we learn transferable skills that will be valuable for the workplace, through our learning methods. Some module leaders give us group assignments instead of individual assignments, so we have a mix of the two. The lecturer placed us into a group of five students and we were all assigned different roles. In this group we were required to deliberate on a particular topic giving different views until we all agreed on a uniform conclusion. This not only broke the ice in our communication, but we also ended up learning a lot from each other. Learning how to to work with others and communicate in a group setting is a great skill to learn that is valuable to life after university.

My course therefore has played a major role in helping me develop various soft skills which I could use in the work environment. From my group assignment, I learnt one of the key requirements needed for new employees and that is the ability to work well in teams. It also helped me improve on my communication skills, time management skills, improved my self-confidence and most importantly my listening skills.

Modules tailored to fit industry requirements

If anyone asks me 'Are your modules tailored to help you easily transition to the work environment?' I will answer this question with a big YES, any day and at any time.

Just to give an overview of my modules, in my first semester I did three units; Data Analysis and Visualization which both teach me how to use Python, Research Practice. Within this I learnt different research techniques which I could use if I decided to work as a researcher and finally Managing Information in the Digital and Global Environment (MIDGE), which will come in handy in my career as an analyst and is also useful in any career that involves dealing with data. In my second semester I did, Project Management which is essential especially if I work on projects in the industry. I also studying the modules Database Systems and Machine learning, both of which supplemented my artificial intelligence and database management skills.

The courses offered by Leeds Beckett are tailormade to suit the current industry environment and continue to stay up to date, which is really useful. Therefore, it is very essential to always have a clear view of what you would like to do in the future when making the module selections since most companies are keen to know what you bring to the table and may start by looking at the various modules done as part of the coursework.

My future career goals

My course has prepared me for my career in so many ways, starting from the different modules I have learnt, to working with an amazing team of students and lecturers. I therefore intend to use the knowledge I have gained so far to apply for a junior data analyst role, and as I gain more experience I eventually hope to advance to the data scientist roles in the market.

Pursuing a course at university was always a dream of mine. So as we take this journey it is important to keep reminding ourselves of what made us take this step in the first place. This brings us to our individual goals and helps us to reflect on how our course prepares us adequately for the industry we wish to pursue.