It's important to have a goal to work towards and a reason to get out of bed every day. It keeps you motivated and driven, and I continue to work towards my personal goals every day.

I believe that any dream is achievable. What you need to do is work out how to achieve that dream. You need to question yourself and discover how you need to live your life in order to activate that dream. For example, if your dream is to own a Ferrari (something I’d love to do), you need to work out what you need to do to be able to achieve that. Work out how much money you need to earn to achieve that goal, give it a figure, and plan how you are going to earn it.

As well as wanting a Ferrari, I have goals which I work towards every day. They have always motivated me at work and at university. During my time at university, I decided that a placement was the next step I needed to take.

Similarly, to many students in their second year at university I went in search of a placement. It is a challenging task and after a few applications it is easy to become disillusioned. For Computer Science students the first stage of a placement application normally involves a test, which can take time. It can be difficult to juggle university work as well as dealing with multiple placement application processes. Therefore, it is so important to remain motivated and remember why you are putting in the work.

I decided that I wanted to get a placement because I wanted to gain valuable experience within the software development industry and I wanted a new challenge. There is a lot of competition and having an advantage over other candidates is important. I knew that being able to put a placement on my CV would look great when applying for jobs.

I also wanted a fresh challenge. Whilst at university I also worked part time at Greggs. I would often work long hours around my university schedule. Initially my time at Greggs was challenging but over time I became confidant and comfortable in the role. Despite some long hours, such as 4:30 – 19:00 on a busy Saturday, I knew I could overcome any challenge. By starting a placement, I knew that I would be starting from scratch and would need to learn my new roles as well as fitting into a new team.

The technical services role at ProspectSoft seemed like the perfect opportunity for me to progress and work toward my goals. ProspectSoft has won many awards over the past 13 years and this resonated with me. Many of the currently employees were once placement students, and this suggested that I would be able to develop and learn at ProspectSoft.

Now, nearly 3 months into my time at ProspectSoft, I’m happy with my decision and many of my initial thoughts have been confirmed. Everyone at ProspectSoft is incredibly friendly and want to help you learn and progress. They understand how important a placement year is and allow you a level of freedom to focus on areas which are going to help you develop.

My role as Technical Services Assistant has offered me many new challenges, as I hoped. Each day is varied and I’m learning constantly. I mainly deal with our customers and help them solve issues they are having. There is a major contrast in the complexity of each issue which keeps each day exciting. The role is fast paced and makes each day go quick. Due to the variety of my role, I get involved with every department in the business and all the staff are always happy to help.

I’m pleased to report that ProspectSoft really does allow its placements to be involved in real work and they give you lots of responsibility. Personally, I have been given the role of leading the recruitment process for the Development and Technical Services placements for next year. This is a lot responsibility and I’m determined to hire some great placements! This sort of project looks fantastic on a CV and will be a great learning experience.

To summarise, the first 3 months at ProspectSoft have continued to push me, but overall it has been excellent. I can’t empathise enough the importance of doing a placement, especially at a company like ProspectSoft. ProspectSoft is the next chapter in my life and I’m going to take every opportunity during my time here. I do this all in the hope that in a few years’ time I’ll be driving out of a Ferrari dealership in a Ferrari 458 speciale.