Uptree

Favour is a Year 12 student currently studying Mathematics, Computer Science and Psychology. Here, she shares her success and top tips to help inspire others to apply for work placements.

NCC Group is a global expert in cyber security and risk mitigation. They help organisations assess, develop and manage cyber threats.

Tell us about your Uptree journey.

I joined Uptree during the first couple months of Sixth Form. My Computer Science teacher had mentioned the platform in one of our lessons to which I had taken interest in right away. I think the first event I applied for was with ARM, which really helped me develop an understanding of a different area in the tech sector. Ever since, I have taken part in work experience days with different companies such as NCC Group and PwC.

How did Uptree help you on your journey to getting this placement?

I found out about NCC Group through Uptree and applied for an in-person work experience day with them that was listed on the Uptree platform. I was fortunately accepted to take part in the experience to my delight and learnt a lot about Cybersecurity and the different job roles it offered. The in-person work experience also granted me the opportunity to meet employees at NCC Group face to face and ask them questions individually about the part they play in the workforce. This part of the experience helped me kick-start my networking skills, which paid off months later when I reached out to someone at NCC Group about a potential work placement at the company. Thanks to Uptree navigating me to this company, I will be working in an office at NCC Group for a week long placement, which I am very excited about.

Did you experience any setbacks and how did you manage these?

When reaching out to big companies, the replies may be understandably slow and knowing that many other students would be trying to reach out to these companies too made it tough. I learnt the importance of perseverance in these situations. I realised that having attended one of the work experience days at NCC Group gave me an edge over many other candidates. I had an employee's work email from networking at the event, rather than the generic email provided online. Another thing was consistency. Consistently checking my email, sending well-written, speedy replies and politely chasing up when I had not heard back. It is key to be resilient, as stressful as it may feel, because honest mistakes happen. They may not see your email or simply just forget to reply.

Do you have any advice for students in a similar situation to you who are also interested in a similar career path?

Continuously look out for different opportunities to experience the sector of your choice and explore it completely. Do not limit yourself too quickly by only looking for a specific job title. These experiences help widen your scope of knowledge and also help you develop your interpersonal skills, which is crucial to be able to network well in the future. And to anyone also interested in a career in technology, I know it may feel daunting and that you don't have the right skills to progress into a career in tech, but there are so many pathways into it. If you feel the university route is not for you, it is far from over.

A big thank you to Favour for her insightful article and we wish her all the best in her future career journey!

Visit NCC Group's page to find out more about the company.