Graduate Job

Jonny ///M said:
WTF.....are you like the future me.....first you take my car and your doing stuff relating to finance.(im currently doing an accounts degree) I dont get this 2:2,2:1 stuff,care to explain?

1st is like an A
2:1 is like B
2:2 is like C
 
Stripe said:
I was on 53% after year 2 and I did it so it's readily possible to bring things back.
Just finished my second year in Business Information Systems with 53% too. With the weighting of 60% in the third year i need 65% this year to get a 2:1.

Bring it!

1st = 70%
2:1 = 60%
2:2 = 50%

Note: 75%+ is rare, 80%+ is very rare! :)

I did get 78% last year for a big bit of coursework though. Go me! :D
 
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Kaiju said:
Just finished my second year in Business Information Systems with 53% too. With the weighting of 60% in the third year i need 65% this year to get a 2:1.

Bring it!

1st = 70%
2:1 = 60%
2:2 = 50%

Note: 75%+ is rare, 80%+ is very rare! :)

I did get 78% last year for a big bit of coursework though. Go me! :D

Highest i've ever got was 78 for my dissertation, i've seen 80 thou.
 
Raymond Lin said:
Highest i've ever got was 78 for my dissertation, i've seen 80 thou.
Nice work there. :)

One of the guys i used to work with in a restaurant always got over 70% for stuff. He choose to learn Japanese in his second and third year and ended up with 90% or something for it. He could've done anything really as he's now in Japan earning a tidy amount.
 
I didn't get a single interview for any of the grad placements I applied for (I went round the usual bunch - financial stuff and then technology stuff) because I got a 2:2. The only company I got an interview with gave me a job, and I'm very happy. Not exactly a small company either..... :)

So I'd say getting a 2:1 is very important. You will be thrown in the bin by a lot of companies straight away by not having a 2:1. Others will look at you if you have a 2:2, but not getting a 2:1 is only cutting your options down.

Kaiju said:
Note: 75%+ is rare, 80%+ is very rare! :)

Depends entirely on the subject. If you sit a maths paper and get 95% of the questions out, you will get 95%. This is only really true of maths/sciences though - I know (at Cambridge certainly) that in some (arts) subjects, fellows/examiners will refuse to give more than 85% for any essay whatsoever, even if it's groundbreakingly insightful.
 
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to the OP, head down to IBM @ Warwick (where I work) just off the A46, huge place, maybe you can ask if jobs are going, or alternatively check online, they have a graduate scheme etc etc, which may be relevant to you.

TBH I'd (and I make it my lifes goal!) never take a job in coventry, even if it paid twice as much.
 
Gavstar said:
Explain? You have me worried! Not that I'm on the grad scheme per se anymore, but I'm still going to work for them.

What Nozzer said, although I disagree with what he said about "their position" - they are a big telecommunications company that has made some effort to break into new markets. Nothing more, certainly not blue chip material outside of that market. Yet talk to their staff, and they think they are a big consultancy, in the same league as Accenture, IBM etc. lol!

If you want to know how they work, read the NHS Audit report, and the Blacked out bits esp. Amazing read :p

EDIT: Btw, your story sounds familiar. Let me guess, you applied to Syntegra/CSI/Global Services, they said Grad scheme is full but had many good applications and offered you to employ you through a "side" scheme?

IBM @ Warwick

Extremely difficult to get in, I know a kid who got a First, had a placement with Eli Lilly and was programming Linux kernels in his free time, yet still didn't get in.
 
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A 2:1 isnt vital.

I applied to IBM Global Services - the worlds largest IT consultancy firm. I put down on my application that I was expecting a 2:1.

Got told about a week before my finals that I'd been accepted. Did my finals, got the degree i was *really* expecting (2:2). Kept quiet about it.

3 months in, had a meeting with my manager to see how I was settling in etc....went over my application (they like to point out why they picked you - its a confidence booster...). Got to the degree section (im sweating at this point). Boss says 'So you expected a 2:1 - presumably you got that?' I say 'No, actually I only managed a 2:2.' Boss says 'Oh well, you're here now, never mind....'


8 years on, 2 companies later, and my degree hasnt been mentioned since.
 
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Ex-RoNiN said:
Extremely difficult to get in, I know a kid who got a First, had a placement with Eli Lilly and was programming Linux kernels in his free time, yet still didn't get in.

I can well beleive it, TBH.

While I was at IBM (see above post) I did a lot of graduate recruitment activities - going to careers fairs, pre-screening of candidates etc.

A big no-no was the excessively geeky types. IBM GS (like all the big consultancies), has its foundations in technology, but at the end of the day, if they cant put you in front of a client, and have that client feel comfortable handing over £1000 pounds a day for your services, then you're no good to them. Most excessivly nerdy types simply dont have the social and interpersonal skills to be able to do that, so the fact that they can 'prgramme linux kernels' is irrelevant.
 
Ex-RoNiN said:
EDIT: Btw, your story sounds familiar. Let me guess, you applied to Syntegra/CSI/Global Services, they said Grad scheme is full but had many good applications and offered you to employ you through a "side" scheme?

No, I did a placement last summer and applied to the BT scheme, which is handled by Accenture. I jumped through all the hoops, got through the selection day, but in the end didn't get the 2:1.

On the strength of my placement, and possibly my negotiation of the selection process, I've been offered a job in the department in which I had the initial placement. No 'side-scheme' as such, just my line manager wanting to employ me.

It may be an exception that proves the rule, but I didn't see anything other than extremely high job satisfaction while I was there, so I am looking forward to it.
 
Getting in early into the recruitment process - you may have the best degree possible and have run 5 societies but if they've no places left you won't have a chance.

While the graduate schemes can be great - there can bea feeling when you arrive at a company that graduates are resented, under worked, and lack any real world experience. (From what I've seen anyway..)

General they rotate around departments for the first 18 months, getting no time to really get involved seriously in anything.

I got a 2i, 5 above B grade A levels , was events co-ordinator for a society - but wasn't able to get on any graduate schemes - partly due to lack of effort on my part and dillusion at the seemingly irrevelent skills they think you will need.

I ended up doing a summer temp job in the main
IT department of an international bank doing admin - from which I was offered a full time developers role. 1 year in and I'm as well paid as the graduates who started at the same time, have better conditions (more holiday etc) and more relevent training to the role I've undertaken.

There's more than one way to skin a cat and all that. Gradudate schemes aren't the be all and end all.
 
Jonny ///M said:
Cheers ,i get it now. Why the **** not just call it A ,B and C in the first place :confused:
Because universities are reknowned for being stuck up, arrogant, toffee-nosed, ahem... i have no idea. :p
 
I didn't really bother looking for a graduate scheme and was planning on bumming about for a bit and then just getting the first job that came along when I fancied it.

I did a BSc in Computer Networks for Business though half the course was business management, it included CCNA and I already had an A+ in computer systems engineering. (Got a 2:1 for my BSc)

About one week after I finnished though I found myself on a graduate academy for a sub-division of BellMicro. I'm now a technical consultant for the HP OpenView suite, its awesome :)

Though I havent had a chance to be a round on the forums lately as I havent had time to get the internet connected for my new apartment the job is awesome - I get to specialize in what I want and the company is really supportive with things like hotels, external training, hire and pool cars (they sort out breakfast and evening meals if I'm away from home) (And theirs a guy who cleans your car and a lady who gives you a massage at your desk) etc.

Anyway yeah -the sub division of Bell I work for is OpenPSL, I'd recomend looking for their grad scheme when it comes up though I don't think you'll find any info on it until at least Jan 2007 as its still being sorted out (the course I did was a prototype thingy)

Rgds

EDIT: Feel free to ask any qu's on other stuff if you need it - like interview technique - what companies look for beyond the academic etc.
 
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Jonny ///M said:
Cheers ,i get it now. Why the **** not just call it A ,B and C in the first place :confused:

Because universities have been around for a little bit longer than A levels, GCSEs and other "A,B or C" exams. Why should they call it A, B and C? They werre there first?
 
lightbulb said:
As a matter of interest, what did you put down for 'one of IBMs greatest achievements in the last 5 years' on the app form?

I mentioned the transition to an on demand workplace. Can't remember exactly what I said about it but I know it's like their ten year mission to get all of their clients to become On Demand so I figured it was quite integral to the business.
 
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