Vasily Shcherbinin
"The modules offered by the University have been very useful and relevant, the lecturers have always been knowledgeable and passionate about their subject, and the placement year has been instrumental in my future career. The University of Surrey has played a huge role in my current career success."
Course
Computer Science BSc (Hons)Placement company
IBMWhat was your most useful experience at Surrey?
My Professional Training placement year with IBM was the most useful experience for me.
How did your placement year affect your final year studies and your graduate job search?
My Professional Training placement year benefited my final year studies in numerous ways. Firstly, I was able to directly utilize and apply the experiences and skills gained during the placement year in some of my modules such as the Distributed Systems module. Secondly, it provided several ideas for my final year project, ensuring that it was relevant and applicable to the current IT business needs. Finally, having successfully completed my placement year, I felt much more confident in myself and my skills, allowing me to enter the final year with a positive attitude.
"As an international student, it is always stressful thinking about your next step after finishing university. My placement year therefore helped me enormously because I received a job offer from my placement company even before the final year began, taking the stress out of the final year."
What is your current role and how has your degree benefited you so far?
I currently work as a Software Developer at IBM, developing and enhancing the IBM MQ product. My everyday work includes lots of coding and debugging, but at the same time there is space for more higher level activities, such as designing new features from scratch and following through the entire design cycle (Investigating, Planning, Developing, Testing).
My degree has given me both the technical and soft skills in order to be successful in my role and be comfortable with the challenges that arise as part of the daily work.
Do you have any other thoughts you’d like to share with prospective students?
Coming to study at Surrey has been one of the best decisions in my life – I know everybody says this, but this is because it is true! The modules offered by the University have been very useful and relevant, the lecturers have always been knowledgeable and passionate about their subject, and the placement year has been instrumental in my future career. The University of Surrey has played a huge role in my current career success.
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