By Avis Fung, Artificial Intelligence BSc student.
Rewind one year. I was exactly where you are now: juggling lectures, deadlines, and the daunting mountain of placement applications. If you had told me then that in twelve months, I’d be working as a Data Analyst in the Applied AI team at Airbus, I’m not sure I would have believed you. It’s difficult to picture your future day-to-day life when you’re just staring at endless job descriptions on a screen.
What is your biggest piece of advice?
To everyone currently searching, my biggest piece of advice is to just go for it. There is a common tendency, statistically more prevalent in women, to feel we aren’t capable if we don’t meet 100% of a job description’s criteria. Break that mold. Don’t self-reject before you’ve even given yourself a chance; let the company decide if you are the right fit.
On the practical side, organisation is your best friend for balancing study and searching. Create a spreadsheet to track the status of every single application. Dedicate specific time slots to practicing those tricky aptitude tests and coding challenges. Also, utilise your resources by regularly checking in with the Global Placement team and keeping a close eye on their up-to-date job openings spreadsheet.
What’s placement been like?
My placement so far has been transformative. The initial nervousness has been replaced by genuine confidence. I’ve moved beyond classroom theory, gaining a real-world understanding of complex cloud infrastructures and learning how to deploy scalable AI models globally. Just as importantly, I’ve developed the crucial soft skills needed to network effectively with a diverse, international team.
Keep pushing through the applications. A year from now, you’ll be amazed at how much you’ve grown
Leave a Reply