Enhance your employability with a year in industry

What's a Year in Industry?

The collaboration and problem-solving skills developed during my placement have been instrumental in my growth as a software engineer.”

 

Brandon Oliver
BSc Computer Science (with a year in industry)

Putting your skills into practice

Your year in industry is a great way to enhance your CV with industry experience. You'll have the opportunity to see what it's like to work in a particular field, as well as being able to put into practice what you have learnt so far.

The industry placement takes place between the second and third years of your degree. It is a recognised part of your degree, and you can choose to take a year in industry with any of our courses.

Our dedicated Industrial Placements Team will help you thoughout the process - including refining your CV, arranging interviews on campus, assisting you with your interview technique and looking after you while you are on your placement.

We work with a wide variety of employers to ensure you have a broad range of placement options. Our employers range from small local businesses to large multinational organisations. Our employers are located across the UK, so we can help you find a company that really suits your individual needs. You can also undertake your placement year abroad, if you wish!

You will be paid a salary while on your year in industry: typical salaries are between £20-28k per annum outside of London, and £27-38k in London⁽¹⁾. In addition, you'll also pay a reduced tuition fee - for more information about this, visit the University's fees and funding page.

⁽¹⁾ Salary information extracted from department records.

To give you a flavour of who we work with, our current Year in Industry employers include:

• Morgan Stanley – A multinational investment bank and financial services company
• Amadeus – A multinational technology company that provides software solutions for the global travel and tourism industry.
• ETAS Bosch – A German company which designs tools for the development of embedded systems for the automotive industry and other sectors of the embedded industry.
• Dojo – A payment provider providing small business and enterprise card machines that are robust, flexible and secure.
• Thales – A French multinational company that designs, develops and manufactures electrical systems as well as devices and equipment for the aerospace, defence, transportation and security sectors.
• Anaplan – A company which sells subscriptions for cloud-based business-planning software and provides data for decision-making purposes.
• Informed Solutions –  A company which provides enterprise technology platforms and services that support large-scale digital transformation.
• Wellcome Sanger Institute – A non-profit British genomics and genetics research institute.

 Are you an employer interested in providing placement opportunities for our current students? Find out more about how you can get involved.

Benefits of a Year in Industry

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The technical skills and knowledge I gained while in my placement year has given me the confidence and direction I was lacking, making me more sure of myself, my abilities, and my future career.

Natasha Coia
BEng Computer Science (with a year in industry)

What are the benefits of taking a year in industry?

Our students often find that the invaluable experience of their year in industry enhances their academic study and improves their grades. Here are some of the benefits to choosing an industrial placement:

• Students who take a year in industry usually improve their grades and academic performance for a better degree result;
• You gain experience to boost your CV in the race for jobs;
• You put into practice what you have learnt from your degree, as well as learning new skills;
• You may get a job offer before you graduate from your placement organisation;
• You will be paid for your year in industry, so you can start to pay off any student loans if you wish;
• Students who take a year in industry often earn more after graduation than those who do not;
• You will develop softer skills such as communication, problem solving and team work, as well as developing qualities such as independence, responsibility and pro-activeness - all looked for by employers.

Our placement companies give you the chance to gain real experience of working in industry - which will also help you decide what you want to do when you graduate.

While we make every effort to find placements for students who wish to take a year in industry, please note that allocation of a placement cannot always be guaranteed.

What our students say

Find out more from our students and one of our placement employers

We asked two of our students who have completed their industrial placement to tell us more about their experience. Find out why they recommend a Year in Industry:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IrunX2-Mrgg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMY-wKW3eTM

As well as being a Computer Science graduate from the University of York, Jessica Hainey is an experienced senior manager in the tech industry with experience of recruiting students for their placements. Here, Jessica gives her top tips on how to get the most out of a Year in Industry:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDxjPH_CRFc

Our team

How we help you: our dedicated Industrial Placements Team

The Department of Computer Science has a dedicated team that will help you to prepare for your year in industry. We offer CV reviews and interview practice as well as hosting on campus recruitment events.

During the first semester of your second year, we run a recruitment event called FastTrack where we invite employers into the Department to give presentations and host interviews. Typically, we have over 20 different employers taking part, many of which offer multiple placement opportunities available exclusively to University of York students.

We recognise that each student wants a different experience for their placement year and so we do our best to ensure that we offer a diverse range of employers representing a range of company sizes, types and job roles. Previous attendees have included local firms such as ETAS and MooD and large national companies such as IBM and Morgan Stanley.

The Placements Team is also here to make sure everything goes well during your year in industry. As well as being available for advice, support and guidance on email and by telephone, we also visit you in the workplace to make sure that you are getting the best out of your experience while on your year in industry.

"For most students, the Year in Industry is the start of their career, with approximately 50 per cent of those who take a year in industry being offered a permanent position after graduation. When students return to us after their placement, academic staff tell me that they often see a marked improvement in academic performance, with students obtaining a higher degree level than previously expected."

Luke Bryant, Industrial Placements Manager

What our employers say

What our employers say

As a Software based Tech company in York we are proud to have had a long and successful partnership with the University. ETAS’s office in York was originally formed as a start-up that was directly spun-out from the Department of Computer Science more than 20 years ago, and we arere pleased to continue the close relationship working with the Department to this day.

Working within ETAS, placement students get the opportunity to directly work on real-world projects and help develop software that follows our motto of Enabling Tomorrow’s Automotive Solutions. Most of our teams take placement students, each offering a unique set of problems and technologies for students to work with and solve. We also run multiple STEM outreach events each year that students can take part in during their placement.

“ETAS is always pleased to take students from the University of York. Over the course of several years, they have proved themselves to be an invaluable addition to our highly technical teams based here in York and around the world”
- Paul Exley – Senior Manager at ETAS 
 
“I’ve worked with many students from the University of York in my time at ETAS, and I was a placement student here several years back as well. It’s always a joy to watch students grow into their roles here over the course of their placements. We aim to support them on that journey and give them the opportunity to put their knowledge into practice in a real-world environment.”
Jacob Allen – Scrum Master at ETAS

ETAS offers multiple 12-month placements each year to students from the University of York. We offer positions through the Department of Computer Science’s amazing Fast-Track programme, and through direct application from students.