Creating Opportunities:

Our Work Experience Programme

We're excited to be planning our fourth year of offering work experience placements, and it’s been incredible to see how our programme has grown. What started with just one student has now expanded to having every available slot filled during the school holidays.

We believe in fully integrating students into our team, ensuring they feel like active members throughout their placement. Students join us for lunches, interact with our wider team, and gain invaluable insights into the day-to-day life of a software engineer.

The Programme
Our work experience programme is structured as a 5-day immersive journey. Students work closely with our Resourcing Manager, Gavin, who begins by assessing each student’s technical abilities. From there, he draws on a set of carefully designed activities tailored to the student’s interests and skill level. These tasks can range from developing a Pacman game to shadowing other team members and engaging in mock interviews, providing an authentic taste of what a career in software engineering entails.

What do our students say?

We consider work experience vital—not just for gaining hands-on knowledge, but also for allowing students to explore whether this is a field they want to pursue further. It’s a chance for them to envision their future and decide if a career in software engineering is right for them.

"The key things I learned from my work experience were 1) always ask for help, 2) always have a plan and 3) there are many ways to solve a problem. I have already used this mentality in multiple other areas of my life and it has vastly improved my problem-solving and efficiency, especially in study. I strongly believe that the skills I picked up at Green Custard will follow me throughout my career."

Tahlia Clovis

Sixth Form Student

"Gavin Dolling was an amazing mentor and broke the problem down into stages. It wasn’t easy, but due to his guidance, I was able to think of solutions by approaching problems from a different angle. I would 100% recommend the Green Custard Work experience to people interested in entering the STEM field or doing a STEM-related degree as not only is it highly beneficial for your CV but you gain invaluable work experience.”

Lynton Onwuchekwa

Sixth Form Student

"The key things I learned from my work experience were 1) always ask for help, 2) always have a plan and 3) there are many ways to solve a problem. I have already used this mentality in multiple other areas of my life and it has vastly improved my problem-solving and efficiency, especially in study. I strongly believe that the skills I picked up at Green Custard will follow me throughout my career."

Tahlia Clovis

Sixth Form Student

"Gavin Dolling was an amazing mentor and broke the problem down into stages. It wasn’t easy, but due to his guidance, I was able to think of solutions by approaching problems from a different angle. I would 100% recommend the Green Custard Work experience to people interested in entering the STEM field or doing a STEM-related degree as not only is it highly beneficial for your CV but you gain invaluable work experience.”

Lynton Onwuchekwa

Sixth Form Student

"The key things I learned from my work experience were 1) always ask for help, 2) always have a plan and 3) there are many ways to solve a problem. I have already used this mentality in multiple other areas of my life and it has vastly improved my problem-solving and efficiency, especially in study. I strongly believe that the skills I picked up at Green Custard will follow me throughout my career."

Tahlia Clovis

Sixth Form Student

Giving back to the community is a core value for us, and we are proud of the programme we’ve built, having welcomed 11 students into our team so far. We’re especially committed to supporting diversity and inclusion in technology, welcoming young women and students from underrepresented backgrounds. The tech industry has long been male-dominated, and we hope that by providing these opportunities, we can inspire the next generation of female and minority engineers to explore this field and pursue their passion.

Our work experience programme is more than just an introduction to software engineering; it’s about helping students envision their future and providing a stepping stone into a rewarding career. We look forward to continuing to grow and evolve this initiative and welcoming many more students in the future.

Resources

Student CV Tips & Template

Student Letter Template

Future Workbook Slides