All good things must come to an end, and for Industrial Placement students, Phil Forster, Ashwin Varughese and Joshua Whibberley – the end is nigh.

The three of them have been diligently working in the Development team and have learnt how ITL products are made, from initial ideas to the manufacturing stage. This is our last opportunity to have a chat with the three of them, so let’s see how they’d sum up their experience at ITL.

Phil Forster – Undergraduate Mechanical Engineer

I’ll be sad to leave ITL as I’ve learnt a lot here and made some good friends along the way but I’m looking forward to approaching my final year of university with the skills I’ve picked up along the way. Colleagues have told me that I’ll find the rest of university a total cakewalk since the techniques and concept I’ve engaged with here at ITL go far and above anything required at university level.

I really appreciated the opportunity to develop my own project and the autonomy to take whatever direction I felt was suitable. Of course, there was always a crowd of graduates, engineers, managers and the occasional director to offer advice if needed. It was slightly daunting at first to build a physical object from essentially thin air, but on-the-job learning really is the best way to get to grips with anything you’re unfamiliar with.

It may be a slight adjustment to get back into my student lifestyle in September – all these days of waking up at 7am may have left me somewhat unprepared for sleeping in for 1pm lectures but I’m sure I’ll soon get the hang of it.

Ashwin Varughese – Undergraduate Electronics Engineer

I’ve found this year to be a great help to my general understanding of electronics and their practical application in a business. I’ve had the opportunity to learn an entirely new programming language whilst I’ve been here, which whilst being a fairly sizable challenge, has helped me immensely with respect to my overall knowledge level.

It’s a slightly weird thought that I have to go back to university at the end of the month. In doing a year in industry, I almost felt as though I had “graduated” to the real world, so it will be an interesting change of pace next year.

I think the value of a placement year is understated and would advise others as something that they should pursue. You learn so much more than you think – I knew that I would probably increase my electronics knowledge, but through working with the Mechanical and Software Engineers on many projects, I also gained a lot of insight into those areas. Furthermore, just by being around such a mix of people at ITL, I have improved my communication abilities; problem-solving skills and time management.

Joshua Whibberley – Undergraduate Software Engineer

I’m so glad I opted to take a Year in Industry – there are obvious financial benefits, but I gained much more during my time at ITL. I was able to pursue my passion of Computer Science and see how it fits into my potential future career path.

At first, it was difficult to keep up with the pace of developing code whilst so many other things were going on at the same time. I was used to working in a university computer lab, which was much quieter and it was easy to focus on the project in front of you. The past year was quite different in that I had to deal with a number of different projects at once and learn how to work on them concurrently. Towards the end of the placement, this “juggling act” became almost second nature and I’m sure this will be a useful tool to hold onto for the future.

In the place of the outgoing crop of placement students, we have a brand new cohort joining us this year – Mike Amos, Rob Farrar, Vaibhav Harsad and Tom Stocks. This year we have staggered the introduction of the new students to allow them time to get to know the people whose roles they’ll be taking over. This contact period allows our new recruits to learn from the current placement students, to gain an understanding of the type of work we do here. We wish the newcomers all the best, as we look forward to a great year together.

If you would like more information about how to apply for a year in industry, click here.