Begin your career working in the technology industry
Discover the benefits of a maths, physics, computing, engineering or surveying placement year
You can do a placement year on many of our maths, physics, engineering or computing sandwich degree courses.
When you take a placement year job, you'll work for an established business, a small to medium-sized enterprise (SME), a startup, or even work self-employed. Previous students studying technology subjects with us have done placements as junior developers, junior aerospace engineers, trainee building surveyors and electrical engineers.
Your sandwich year placement will give you valuable experience to help grow your professional network in your subject, enhance your CV, and improve your chances of employment after graduation.
I did my placement with BAE Systems. I was on the naval base in Portsmouth and I really enjoyed it. I was there for 13 months in total and had a vast array of experiences, not all of them engineering, which was great.
Placement year job roles
You should think about what you want to get from your placement and apply for roles that can offer you that experience. If you don’t have any ideas, a tech placement is a great opportunity to try a company or industry and identify what you might want to do in the future.
Below are some of the roles our students have done during their sandwich year placement.
Computing placement year roles
- Junior developer
- IT analyst
- Management trainee
- ICT support technician
- Business analyst
Maths and Physics placement year roles
- Flight physics intern
- Counter-terrorism and security analyst
- Commercial management intern
- Student research analyst
Mechanical and Design Engineering placement year roles
- Design engineer
- Quality inspector
- Project manager
- Junior aerospace engineer
- Engineering intern (hydromechanical)
Energy and Electrical Engineering placement year roles
- Systems engineer
- Electrical engineer
- Electronic design student
- Commercial estimator
Civil Engineering and Surveying placement year roles
- Building controls intern
- Construction management trainee
- Trainee building surveyor
- Trainee civil engineer
- Assistant quantity surveyor
I’ve just finished my placement year with Geoffrey Osborne, a huge contractor in the UK and I’ve actually been offered a graduate scheme and sponsorship out of it
Where you could work during your placement
Placement locations
- Elanco – a global animal health company
- BAE Systems – a British multinational defence, security, and aerospace company
- IBM – an American multinational information technology company
- CGI Inc. – a Canadian information technology consulting, systems integration, outsourcing and solutions company
- Eli Lily – an American pharmaceutical company
- Stannah – a leading international stairlift company and manufacturer of lift services
- Airbus – a European multinational aerospace corporation
- BT – a British multinational telecommunications company
- NATS Holdings – the main air navigation service provider in the UK
- The Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL) – an executive agency of the Ministry of Defence
- The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (OFSTED)
- IBM
- BAE Systems
- Network Rail – the owner and manager of most of Britain's rail network
- Wasdell – the UK's leading pharmaceutical contract packaging providers
- Ricardo Engineering – a global engineering and strategic, technical and environmental consultancy business
- Caterpillar Inc. – an American Fortune 100 corporation that designs, develops, engineers, manufactures, markets and sells machinery, engines, financial products and insurance
- TP Group –providers of security solutions working in defence, space, energy, intelligence and security
- Pall Corporation – a global supplier of filtration, separations and purification products
- Rolls Royce – a British luxury automobile maker
- Estee Lauder – a multinational manufacturer and marketer of prestige skincare, makeup, fragrance and hair care products
- Balfour Beatty – an international group that operates in construction services, support services and infrastructure investments
- Bouygues – delivers construction across a wide range of sectors
- Osborne – provides public construction and solutions for the built environment
- Portsmouth City Council
- Beard -an award winning construction company
- The Valuation Office Agency (VOA) – values properties for Council Tax and non-domestic rates in England and Wales
- Savills plc – a global real estate services provider
- WSP Global Inc. – a Canadian business that provides management and consultancy services to the built and natural environment
- Skanska – the 5th largest construction company in the world, based in Sweden
Browse our courses
Are you ready to increase your employment opportunities and strengthen your skills by doing a sandwich year degree? Browse our placement degree courses now.
Contact us
To get in touch, please contact our Faculty placement office.
Phone: +44 (0)23 9284 6263
Email: tech.placements@port.ac.uk
Work experience opportunities
As a Portsmouth student, you'll get lots of work experience opportunities to try out job roles, apply your skills to different sectors and increase your employability.
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