From Conversion Student to Trainee Software Engineer - 5 tips for securing a Graduate Role

So you took the plunge after completing your undergraduate degree and decided to tackle your next challenge of studying Computer Science, a masters conversion to be exact. Maybe you were working for a while and wanted a career change? Or maybe you finished university and wanted to study something else?

But now you're wondering how to go about finding a job as a software engineer after your studies. Maybe you're worried about how to navigate the process, going up against other soon-to-be graduates who are completing three, four or sometimes even five year long degrees in Computer Science or Software Engineering. Sound familiar? I hope that this article can help to ease your worries, because while it may seem daunting, it's completely doable!

My name is Isabella and I completed the conversion MSc Computer Science course at the University of Birmingham from 2019-2020. Before this, I studied a BA in Politics and German at the University of Bristol from 2015-2019 with a focus in statistical research methods and linguistics. After applying and interviewing during my conversion year, I joined Kainos in November 2020 as a Trainee Software Engineer. In this blog post I'm going to explain my five tips for approaching your job search as a conversion student.

1. Start planning your job search early

It may seem counter-intuitive to start planning for your future career the moment you start your course, or even earlier, before you’ve learnt much beyond ‘Hello World’, but it’s so valuable to start thinking about what you might want to apply for early. Many companies (particularly large and medium sized ones) start recruitment for the next graduate intake towards the start of the academic year – up to a year in advance. For example, Kainos generally starts accepting applications in October with interviews in November and December for a late Summer onboarding the following year.

Even if you don’t know what you want to do yet, it’s better to do the research and the preparation early: finding out which companies interest you; writing your CV; making copies of certificates; and ensuring you have your course dates to hand. Then you have a lot of what you need to apply ready if you come accross something you want to go for, and if a potential employer asks you for information, you have everything you need within reach.

2. Practice your interview technique 

This is important for any job application, and for a software engineer position it’s no different. While you might also be asked to solve a programming problem or explain an algorithm or two, you will undoubtably need to complete at least one or two types of non-technical interview, such as competency-based, informational, or group interviews.

Talking about your CV, as well as your strengths and weaknesses, is always good practice, as is working on your approach to group discussions. Additionally, make sure you can talk about the company you are applying for. What do they do? How do they do it? As a conversion student you can make up for some technical knowledge gaps with good interview performance. After all, a company can easily train you to improve your technical repertoire, but it’s much harder to teach a new colleague good interpersonal skills.

3. Try to understand the wider context of what you learn in your course.

In an academic setting it can often be easy to forget about the wider context of your lecture material in favour of focussing on your final piece of coursework or exam, but there is a reason you’re being taught it. Try not to lose sight of that. Those lectures on Scrum and Agile? You’ll be likely using that information every day as a developer in a team. That tutorial discussion on the benefits of different sorting algorithms? You might have a similar conversation with a colleague when working on a new feature for a project.

4. Undertake some extra learning if you can.

The conversion course can be very hectic at times, so you might not always be able to find the time to learn more outside of your course. But it is really beneficial to do some outside reading in subjects such as Object Oriented Programming principles, Software Engineering, Databases, Data Structures, and Algorithms, as they are often the topics which you could be asked about in an interview. Hence, it’s really worth it to have a good grounding in these areas. If your course is structured so that all of these topics are covered early on, then you’ll likely have a good understanding already, but if some or all of them are covered later then it would be worthwhile to read up a little before you go for an interview.

5. Try not to compare yourself to other more experienced applicants.

As a conversion student it’s easy to be overwhelmed by the idea that you have less experience than other applicants studying much longer undergraduate degrees than your one year conversion MSc. But, it might be just the thing that makes the person going through a pile of applications stop and look at yours for a bit longer. Don’t forget the strengths of undertaking such a course: firstly, you have to learn a lot and you have to learn it quickly, which speaks to your work ethic and learning potential; secondly, you bring experience in other areas to the table, which can be extremely valuable. In short, it’s something a bit different and that can make you stand out from the crowd!

Try not to be discouraged if there’s something you don’t know. It’s unlikely to be expected that you can do everything perfectly, especially if you attend an interview after only a few weeks after starting your Computer Science studies. More often than not it’s about your thought process anyway, and not necessarily about getting the answer 100% right. If you have the opportunity to walk the interviewer through your throughts, then do so!

These were my five tips for conversion students embarking on their job search. I wish you all the best and hope to see some of you joining Kainos in the future!