Mar 3 2012

Mike Hall’s Talk on University ICT and Work Placement

Mike talking to Y12/13 ICT students

Last year, an ex-LLS student, Mike Hall, contacted me – this earlier blogpost is here. Today, we welcomed Mike into LLS to talk to all our Y12 and Y13 ICT students. A big thank you for a well judged, interesting and relevant talk. Below are his reflections on the visit, along with feedback comments from the students.

Talk reflection
Two weeks ago I visited my old Secondary School, Lady Lumley’s in Pickering. A series of E-mails had triggered this visit into precipitation in which Chris (my old ICT teacher [less of the ‘old’ mike – ed.]) and I loosely discussed my return visit to give a talk to the 6th form students about how ICT had helped me throughout University and my work placement (so far) with Vauxhall Motors UK. The E-mails turned to phone calls until before I knew it I was signing in at the Lady Lumley’s reception armed with a memory stick and a mind full of ideas I wanted to convey to the group. Luckily I have had some presentation training as part of my degree and my placement year so presenting to groups is not something that fazes me so once the group had settled and all attention was my way I began to introduce myself and set some goals for the session.

Goals:

  • For Y12 and 13 students to see where an Ex-LLS student is now.
  • To develop their understanding of applied courses and their value.
  • To see how the skills they are learning are valuable in real life.
  • To reassure them that they aren’t wasting their time doing A-Level ICT!

The main messages I tried to get across during the talk were ones of how important it is to stay focused on the end target which is why setting goals is so important. Also the attitude that you can improve a process or situation instead of doing things how they have always been done will get you noticed in the workplace and you are likely to impress even if it is just on your initiative and work ethic.
The feedback I received reflected positively on the messages I was trying to convey, my favourites are below:

Oli – The thing I liked about the talk was the advice he gave and one main one being: keep a log of projects. I think this was good because it showed me that I need to keep work I have done for the future with interviews etc.
Alex – I think the information that Mike gave about making yourself stand out from other names on a list was good advice, and definitely something worth thinking about when applying for Uni’s/Jobs in the future.
Emma – the importance of experience, and how employers now look for more experience in the workplace rather than just education. He also pointed out how the things that we cover in ICT such as Databases and the project management Unit has helped him in the workplace and can help you get into the job that you want to do.
Luke K – I really appreciate the talk given today, I took out a lot of useful information today. I mostly enjoyed learning about types of targets you should be setting yourself and how specific they need to be so that you know where you are heading and know when you have achieved this.
Megan – I think that the point made about how important time management is within any role, even a real job rather than in education is an important point, especially when preparing for when things don’t go to plan, it is important all time is planned for and used well.
If I was to sum up everything I have learnt in the experience I have had so far, it would be

  • Firstly to ensure all projects and experiences have been logged in a diary so when the time comes to give evidence in job applications the exact details can be given.
  • Secondly to always peruse continuous improvement in whatever you do, from coursework to personal projects.
  • Thirdly to grasp all opportunities you can because the most unexpected things can help you learn in new ways you may never have previously thought about.

LLS learning reflection
If there is one thing I believe ICT at LLS did for me above other things it was appreciation for the mark scheme when completing coursework. This may seem like an obvious thing to take advantage of but when you realise that many things you do in life are judged against a hypothetical mark scheme, it takes on a new meaning. A particular example that sticks out in my mind is job applications, when interviewers are trawling through candidates they have a specification or list of criteria which they need to fill.
The list of criteria is generally given in job advertisements but if they are not why not ask what type of person they are looking for. Once you know you can begin to prove that you fit the criteria perfectly with a combination of assets you have and evidence to back this up (from your project portfolio).

I very much enjoyed my time visiting LLS and giving the talk and would love to return in a few years when hopefully my career has really taken off and I have more experiences to talk about.

Mike Hall / 12th February 2012

Student comments:
Megan – I think that the point made about how important time management is within any role, even a real job rather than in education is an important point. especially when preparing for when things don’t go to plan, it is important all time is planned for and used well.
Alex – I think the information that Mike gave about making yourself stand out from other names on a list was good advice, and definately something worth thinking about when applying for Uni’s/Jobs in the future.
Rob – he gave me and idea if i am going to do a sandwich course or just going to do a full degree and also how ict helps in the workplace.
Oli – The thing I liked about the talk was the advice he gave and one main one being: keep a log of projects. I think this was good because it showed me that I need to keep work I have done for the future with interviews etc.

I also like how it was planned and that the times were stuck to.
Jess – The one point that Mike made that was really useful to me was that he had created a database that was going to be used in his company, solving a major problem that they were currently having, in a real life situation. I thought that was really useful becuase it was inspiration that what we’re doing actually is likely to be used in our future employment, and the skills that we are learning will make us stand out more in CV’s and interviews etc, and not just coursework to gain marks. Thank you for the talk.
Becky – To show enthusiasm into the area of work that you want to go into by ringing companies, requesting for leaflets about specific areas. Also about being enthusiastic in reaching goals to get you into the job that you want to do. This will be useful to me in the future when i am looking for a job or work experience in a placement year.
Saskia – The one point that mike made, was that he uses databases in all aspect of his work placement and how they are widely used in industry. This worried me slightly as I still don’t feel very confident using databases. (I thought that we had seen the last of databases) I think I need to polish up my skills using things like databases and spreadsheets. But its good knowing that what we are learning now, will be useful in later life…..
Emma – the importance of experience, and how employers now look for more experience in the workplace rather than just education. He also pointed out how the things that we cover in ICT such as Databases and the project management Unit has helped him in the workplace and can help you get into the job that you want to do
Andrew – I have learnt a lot from the talk, the one thing I especially found useful was knowing that I should use my previous experiences from school projects and apply them to the role that I will be applying for. Thank you for you Time
Mark – I found the fact that you have to start looking for work placements as early as just before your second year on a sandwich course was very useful as a couple of the courses I have appield for at university offers a year out in industry.
Connor – Thought that when Mike mentioned at the start, you need to set your self clear goals and outline what you want to do rather then being to vague on topics and take a backseat role. Was pretty important. In that you have to aim yourself for something.
Hannah – One point I will take from this talk was to keep a log of everything you do, like projects, that will benefit you in the future. I will rememeber this for my career path as I think it will help for job interview and placements.
Liam – I think that mike has made me consider getting a sandwich course as i believe that the expierience will prove useful in future job applications!
Jade – think that the time plan was important and how necessary it was to keep on track and use yout time the best
Josh – It was good to know that you have to put yourself above the competition! It is definatelly something to think about when applying for uni/jobs.
Abi – I thought the bit about time management was useful as he explained why it was good in real life as well as in a school project. It gave me an insight of what to expect from jobs after uni
Kieran – I found the parts about forward planning very useful, e.g. how a plan will come in increadibly useful in a working enviroment and not just in the classroom.
Alistair – I found the parts about planning forward and not always relieing on others intresting as I feel this is very relavent to later jobs.
Luke T – I found that the talk was very interesting and relevant to what I want to do. I have applied for a sandwich course and i felt that the talk was very helpful to what i want to do.
Luke K – I really appriciate the talk given today, I took out a lot of useful information today. I mostly enjoyed learning about types of targets you should be setting yourself and how specific they need to be so that you know where you are heading and know when you have achieved this.
Dan – I thought that the talk was presented very well and that mike definitely made an impact on the group about future uni choices. I found that the role that he has was very important especially when he mentioned that the production line cost £120 a second, this put the whole database he implemented into context for me personally.

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