I am currently a Year 10 student at Firth Park Academy. From the 18th-22nd March I was placed on work experience at Sheffield Technology Parks (STP), shadowing businesses and witnessing life at work. I was recommended to do this by my business and IT teachers due to my interest in IT. 

During my first day at STP I visited Pace Software, an IT consultancy and resource company. I was asked to format some of their financial data from previous years, learning and using Microsoft Access, as well as creating queries and reports. At Pace the team were welcoming and assisted me when I needed it. It was a great opportunity.

On the second day of my work experience I visited Tobii Dynavox who develop eye tracking and computer speech technology. When I arrived, I was greeted by a friendly team. The people at Tobii gave me a brief overview of the company and the applications for the technology they develop. They also allowed me to trial their technology, which is used by people with physical or cognitive limitations, in order to be able to communicate and improve the quality of their lives. After trialling the software, I was then tasked with customising one of the pieces of computer speech technology to match a customer profile.

I also met the people at NIIT, who were very friendly. NIIT has many different components but the people at the Tech Parks create and design video games for recreational or educational needs. After meeting the team, I entered their VR room and tried one of their pieces of learning software. I then got an overview of each team member's role, from the designers to the coders. After viewing each job, I was asked to use Unity (a coding software for games) in order to create a basic game using C# coding.

On Wednesday, after meeting with Tom to talk about my experience so far, I was welcomed by the team at 3D Folkes. The team gave me an overview of 3D printing as well as the different methods and types of materials that could be used. I also found out about the huge amount of applications 3D printing now has, from car modelling to architecture. Finally, I printed off two name tags using their 3D printers.

For my penultimate day at the Tech Parks, I met the Sheffield Inviqa team. Inviqa is an international company that designs web pages for huge organisations such as Arsenal. Whilst there I learnt the processes and amount of time that goes into creating a web page. I also got to code my very own web page. I was tasked with the same job that they would give to someone that is wishing to be employed. Despite a few complications, I was able to finish the web page’s design and some of the uses it was required to have. After this I learnt some html coding as well as some CSS (design). This project can be viewed here: https://codepen.io/tomaheaton/pen/VRVbYZ  

Overall, my experience at Sheffield Technology Parks was great as I have realised how different life at work is, as well as the vast amount of applications and jobs that IT includes. My favourite experiences, and the jobs that I would most want to go into, were at NIIT, 3D Folkes and Inviqa, as I loved the jobs I was able to do with them. 

Not only was this a great way to experience life at work, but with the help of Tom from the Tech Parks - who has been a great advisor and help throughout my week here - I wrote an example CV. This is helpful as I have now had practice writing a CV and have been given contacts for references that will benefit me when I am applying for further education and jobs.

My experience at Sheffield Technology Parks has given me a better idea of what job(s) I may want to go into. It was great fun and eye opening to see the different applications of IT in a workplace.