Philip Bridges

Placement

A placement year for me was almost a definite. I knew from looking at job articles before that experience is greatly needed and greatly fought after in the industry that I was going in to.

Why Placement?

Getting a year’s work experience was key for me; it separates you from the other graduates that don’t take a placement year and also learn a lot of real-life experiences. It's good and a little bit different from classroom experiences.

Job role

My company was Cisco systems and my job title was Network System Test Engineer. Basically it involved being an intern for a year doing everything that a full engineer in that department will do, everything from configuration to documentation.

My University

I chose Birmingham City University based on its strong industry links. For me this was key succeeding and getting a placement year at Cisco systems, this was probably one of the most beneficial parts of my degree.