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Scholarships @ Coventry
The Asidua Scholarship at Coventry University will support students studying the following degree courses:
- BSc Computing
- BSc Computer Science
This scholarship is worth up to £25,000 to the successful candidate
Subject to satisfactory exam results aligning with a degree classification of 2:1 or above and performance in class, the scholarship will offer support as follows:
- £1,000 per year for each of the scheduled academic years of the course;
- At least eight weeks paid summer work between each academic year;
- A guaranteed paid industrial placement in year three;
- After completion of industrial placement, the opportunity for paid part-time work during the academic year – typically equating to 1 day per week (subject to course schedules);
- Following an application for a permanent position and subject to success at interview, in accordance with Fair Employment legislation, a permanent position with Asidua after graduation.
The selection process
- Applicants must have been accepted onto one of the eligible courses and be enrolled for the course and still in active participation at the end of the first semester;
- All applicants must fill out an Asidua Scholarship Application form, and then send completed application form to recruitment@asidua.com;
- Applicants will be shortlisted based on the contents of their application form;
- Those who successfully pass this shortlisting will be invited for a 45 minutes interview;
- Following interview the successful applicant will be notified by Asidua’s HR Department;
- All scholarships awarded will be publicised on Asidua’s web site and will require the individual to take part in an official photograph and awards ceremony.
The benefit of a scholarship
Scholars will become much more rounded individuals during their time with Asidua. They will enhance the skills and theory they have learnt at University with industrial experience. They will get to work with very experienced individuals who mentor them in software engineering best practices, and will gain real world experience of working in teams and increase their confidence and communications skills in so doing. They will also gain a better understanding of what a career in IT is all about.
The work based learning or placement is invaluable for the student, as they will gain excellent industrial experience during their time with Asidua since they will work on real projects within the Company, and this will increase their chance of employment following graduation.
How it works in practice
When a placement student starts they go through Asidua’s standard induction process in order to gain an understanding of our Company Strategy, how we work operationally, and details of the work area they are being assigned to. A placement student is treated in the same way as a new graduate – we assign them a supervisor within their project team, and we assess their learning and development needs based on what skills they have gained at University and how this compares with what we need within their project area. In addition they are assigned a mentor who works closely with the student during their placement year. Our placement students will work on real projects within the Company.
This means that during each placement slot the scholar will further enhance their skill set and will become more valuable members of the team and contribute more towards to the success of the projects they work on.
How to apply
Asidua’s Coventry University Scholarship Programme for the 2011/2012 academic year has now closed to applications. Opportunities for first year students in the 2012/2013 academic year will be published during autumn 2012.
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Scholarships @ Warwick
The Asidua Scholarship at Warwick University will support students studying the following degree courses:
- BSc/MEng Computer Science
- BSc/MEng Computing Systems
This scholarship is worth up to £25,000 to the successful candidate
Subject to satisfactory exam results aligning with a degree classification of 2:1 or above and performance in class, the scholarship will offer support as follows:
- £1,000 per year for each of the scheduled academic years of the course;
- At least eight weeks paid summer work between each academic year;
- A guaranteed paid industrial placement in year three;
- After completion of industrial placement, the opportunity for paid part-time work during the academic year – typically equating to 1 day per week (subject to course schedules);
- Following an application for a permanent position and subject to success at interview, in accordance with Fair Employment legislation, a permanent position with Asidua after graduation.
The selection process
- Applicants must have been accepted onto one of the eligible courses and be enrolled for the course and still in active participation at the end of the first semester;
- All applicants must fill out an Asidua Scholarship Application form, and then send completed application form to recruitment@asidua.com;
- Applicants will be shortlisted based on the contents of their application form;
- Those who successfully pass this shortlisting will be invited for a 45 minutes interview;
- Following interview the successful applicant will be notified by Asidua’s HR Department;
- All scholarships awarded will be publicised on Asidua’s web site and will require the individual to take part in an official photograph and awards ceremony.
The benefit of a scholarship
Scholars will become much more rounded individuals during their time with Asidua. They will enhance the skills and theory they have learnt at University with industrial experience. They will get to work with very experienced individuals who mentor them in software engineering best practices, and will gain real world experience of working in teams and increase their confidence and communications skills in so doing. They will also gain a better understanding of what a career in IT is all about.
The work based learning or placement is invaluable for the student, as they will gain excellent industrial experience during their time with Asidua since they will work on real projects within the Company, and this will increase their chance of employment following graduation.
How it works in practice
When a placement student starts they go through Asidua’s standard induction process in order to gain an understanding of our Company Strategy, how we work operationally, and details of the work area they are being assigned to. A placement student is treated in the same way as a new graduate – we assign them a supervisor within their project team, and we assess their learning and development needs based on what skills they have gained at University and how this compares with what we need within their project area. In addition they are assigned a mentor who works closely with the student during their placement year. Our placement students will work on real projects within the Company.
This means that during each placement slot the scholar will further enhance their skill set and will become more valuable members of the team and contribute more towards to the success of the projects they work on.
How to apply
Asidua’s Warwick University Scholarship Programme for the 2011/2012 academic year has now closed to applications. Opportunities for first year students in the 2012/2013 academic year will be published during autumn 2012.
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Scholarships @ Aston
The Asidua Scholarship at Aston University will support students studying the following degree courses:
- BSc Computing Science
- BEng/MEng Electronic Engineering & Computer Science
- BSc Computing for Business
- BSc Multimedia Computing
This scholarship is worth up to £25,000 to the successful candidate
Subject to satisfactory exam results aligning with a degree classification of 2:1 or above and performance in class, the scholarship will offer support as follows:
- £1,000 per year for each of the scheduled academic years of the course;
- At least eight weeks paid summer work between each academic year;
- A guaranteed paid industrial placement in year three;
- After completion of industrial placement, the opportunity for paid part-time work during the academic year – typically equating to 1 day per week (subject to course schedules);
- Following an application for a permanent position and subject to success at interview, in accordance with Fair Employment legislation, a permanent position with Asidua after graduation.
The selection process
- Applicants must have been accepted onto one of the eligible courses and be enrolled for the course and still in active participation at the end of the first semester;
- All applicants must fill out an Asidua Scholarship Application form, and then send completed application form to recruitment@asidua.com;
- Applicants will be shortlisted based on the contents of their application form;
- Those who successfully pass this shortlisting will be invited for a 45 minutes interview;
- Following interview the successful applicant will be notified by Asidua’s HR Department;
- All scholarships awarded will be publicised on Asidua’s web site and will require the individual to take part in an official photograph and awards ceremony.
The benefit of a scholarship
Scholars will become much more rounded individuals during their time with Asidua. They will enhance the skills and theory they have learnt at University with industrial experience. They will get to work with very experienced individuals who mentor them in software engineering best practices, and will gain real world experience of working in teams and increase their confidence and communications skills in so doing. They will also gain a better understanding of what a career in IT is all about.
The work based learning or placement is invaluable for the student, as they will gain excellent industrial experience during their time with Asidua since they will work on real projects within the Company, and this will increase their chance of employment following graduation.
How it works in practice
When a placement student starts they go through Asidua’s standard induction process in order to gain an understanding of our Company Strategy, how we work operationally, and details of the work area they are being assigned to. A placement student is treated in the same way as a new graduate – we assign them a supervisor within their project team, and we assess their learning and development needs based on what skills they have gained at University and how this compares with what we need within their project area. In addition they are assigned a mentor who works closely with the student during their placement year. Our placement students will work on real projects within the Company.
This means that during each placement slot the scholar will further enhance their skill set and will become more valuable members of the team and contribute more towards to the success of the projects they work on.
How to apply
Asidua’s Aston University Scholarship Programme for the 2011/2012 academic year has now closed to applications. Opportunities for first year students in the 2012/2013 academic year will be published during autumn 2012.
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Scholarships @ Birmingham
The Asidua Scholarship at University of Birmingham will support students studying the following degree courses:
- BSc/MEng Computer Science/Software Engineering
- BEng/MEng Computer Systems Engineering
- BSc Artificial Intelligence and Computer Science
This scholarship is worth up to £25,000 to the successful candidate
Subject to satisfactory exam results aligning with a degree classification of 2:1 or above and performance in class, the scholarship will offer support as follows:
- £1,000 per year for each of the scheduled academic years of the course;
- At least eight weeks paid summer work between each academic year;
- A guaranteed paid industrial placement in year three;
- After completion of industrial placement, the opportunity for paid part-time work during the academic year – typically equating to 1 day per week (subject to course schedules);
- Following an application for a permanent position and subject to success at interview, in accordance with Fair Employment legislation, a permanent position with Asidua after graduation.
The selection process
- Applicants must have been accepted onto one of the eligible courses and be enrolled for the course and still in active participation at the end of the first semester;
- All applicants must fill out an Asidua Scholarship Application form, and then send completed application form to recruitment@asidua.com;
- Applicants will be shortlisted based on the contents of their application form;
- Those who successfully pass this shortlisting will be invited for a 45 minutes interview;
- Following interview the successful applicant will be notified by Asidua’s HR Department;
- All scholarships awarded will be publicised on Asidua’s web site and will require the individual to take part in an official photograph and awards ceremony.
The benefit of a scholarship
Scholars will become much more rounded individuals during their time with Asidua. They will enhance the skills and theory they have learnt at University with industrial experience. They will get to work with very experienced individuals who mentor them in software engineering best practices, and will gain real world experience of working in teams and increase their confidence and communications skills in so doing. They will also gain a better understanding of what a career in IT is all about.
The work based learning or placement is invaluable for the student, as they will gain excellent industrial experience during their time with Asidua since they will work on real projects within the Company, and this will increase their chance of employment following graduation.
How it works in practice
When a placement student starts they go through Asidua’s standard induction process in order to gain an understanding of our Company Strategy, how we work operationally, and details of the work area they are being assigned to. A placement student is treated in the same way as a new graduate – we assign them a supervisor within their project team, and we assess their learning and development needs based on what skills they have gained at University and how this compares with what we need within their project area. In addition they are assigned a mentor who works closely with the student during their placement year. Our placement students will work on real projects within the Company.
This means that during each placement slot the scholar will further enhance their skill set and will become more valuable members of the team and contribute more towards to the success of the projects they work on.
How to apply
Asidua’s University of Birmingham Scholarship Programme for the 2011/2012 academic year has now closed to applications. Opportunities for first year students in the 2012/2013 academic year will be published during autumn 2012.
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Christopher
I am attending Queen’s University Belfast where I am studying towards a MEng in Electronic and Electrical Engineering.
I am currently doing my 8 week summer placement and am thoroughly enjoying myself . This is the first time I have had experience working in the company and I couldn’t have been happier. Everyone in the company is friendly and eager to help with any queries I may have. I was placed in device services, which is brilliant and exactly what I wanted. At this stage I have completed the device services school, and have been placed on a project. It is all very challenging and through the challenges set before me I have gained a lot of valuable knowledge I will no doubt use in the future.”
If you want to learn more about my experiences in Asidua, please read my regular blog updates below…
12th August 2011
Progress continued into the project, and I was set a new task. This was to hack a program so as to reduce its functionality to one single task. This task involves looking at and understanding all of the source code first so as modification can take place effectively, and a functional result is produced. This task is very challenging, but as always everyone is there to lend a helping hand when needed. I continue this task as the week finishes and will look at it again come Monday.
5th August 2011
As my project is under NDA terms, I cannot go into specifics on the details, however this week seen the end of one solution to the problem as progress faltered, and the route taken was seen as limited. However a new opportunity arose and so progress continued down this route instead. This more versatile and useful program gave much more hope in the solution of the problem at hand. By this stage I had learned quite a bit about Linux, as well as being much more familiar and fluent with the use in this operating language, C programming language and things i had not used or heard of before, including make files and scripts.
29th July 2011
This week added a whole different perspective to my work in Asidua. It involved a change of pace as I was introduced to the project I would be working on, which was very interesting, motivating and added a sense of importance to my role in the company. Initially I had to get to grips with the fundamentals of Linux and up to speed on how it operates as I was not used to this operating system at all. Following the initial stage, it seemed much more sensible to learn along the way, and so research began on the project. I am working alongside Matthew (a summer placement student) and so the task was split into 2 distinct sections. We initially worked together, but began to branch into our separate specific sections.
22nd July 2011
This week finished with the completion of more advanced tutorials and the school itself. The tutorials built upon what was already achieved in previous tutorials and with the help of the textual guide, as well as any queries and questions being answered eagerly by different people here, they were manageable and enlightening.
15th July 2011
This week started with an introduction to the school (A set of exercises designed to familiarise ourselves with the companies system, as well as put into practice knowledge acquired of the years at university or in my case learn all this first hand.) It was very interesting starting working on an unfamiliar system, as well as programming in an unfamiliar language. The learning curve was steep and so I learned a lot in a short space of time. On working through the tutorials it was great to see theory I had learned in university and the more advanced knowledge acquired in the school being put to use in practical situations.
8th July 2011
Previous Jobs left me with a sense of dread when a shift approached, but before my debut at Asidua I felt anticipation of much better things. On the day I started a few other placement and graduate engineers had also joined the ranks, and so our introduction to the company was group orientated. This introduction involved a guided tour of both units, several inductions, meeting many different people in the company and just getting settled in. The first week made me feel right at home in the company and made me really look forward to week 2.
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Victoria
I currently am undertaking a BEng Computer Science degree at Queen’s University Belfast, which I began in September 2010. Having just completed my first year, I am pleased to say I achieved the highest marks out of all the students within my year, with my motivation to continue the Asidua scholarship surely being an attributing factor!
I decided I wanted to embark upon a Computer Science degree as I’ve had an interest in computing for many years, further solidified by my performance in ICT throughout secondary school, in which I was placed first in Northern Ireland at A-Level. I decided I wanted to go beyond the scope of what we were learning in class, and delve into programming and other more advanced constructs, which I thoroughly enjoyed doing.
Once I arrived at university, I thought applying for the Asidua scholarship would be a wonderful opportunity to supplement this interest in learning, and it is proving to be an invaluable experience. I am learning how to use many products used in the ndustry that I would not have otherwise had an opportunity to discover, as well as gaining knowledge within an actual working environment, which will better prepare me for experiences beyond university life.
If you want to learn more about my experiences in Asidua, please read my regular blog updates below…
25th July 2011
So, I have reached my final week of placement and am adding the final touches to a Silverlight Application that I will use within my SharePoint site, which will hopefully ‘talk’ to components the other placement students have worked very hard to create. I have had an enjoyable Summer placement experience, and I will miss my co-workers and the other placement students as I have got to know everyone quite well. I am looking forward to the company BBQ, and can’t wait to resume my work with Asidua for my next placement opportunity. I would definitely recommend this scheme to others, as in eight short weeks I have gained a wealth of knowledge that I would not have had the opportunity to obtain through university alone.
18th July 2011
It is my penultimate week and I have been creating front-end forms for my SharePoint site using InfoPath Designer and workflows within SharePoint Designer. Hopefully, I will be able to integrate the work I have done with work the other placement students have been undertaking, which includes hosting a web service and using Microsoft Dynamics CRM. I also attended my first team meeting in order to discuss this. In order to refine the forms, I was able to use Visual Studio. I could therefore undertake some ASP.NET and C# programming tutorials in order to learn how to do this efficiently.
11th July 2011
This week I have been setting up a SharePoint Server from scratch using a Windows Server 2008 virtual machine – the most challenging aspect of my sales project yet! I have to say it was a very engaging process but I was able to have the server up and running by the end of the week and create my own custom SharePoint sites. Again, this is something I had never had a chance to do before I began my placement, so it was really great to be able to do something new in a working environment. This week also seemed to fly in as a result of the public holiday.
4th July 2011
This week I have been using Balsamiq to create wireframe outlines for SharePoint forms for a new project I have been assigned, alongside BizAgi to represent processes and workflows visually. Again, these were two programs I had not used before I began my placement but programs which I am now certain will benefit me as I am working through university projects next year. July has therefore started quite comfortably, highlights including a lovely team lunch this week at Benedict’s which was good fun (and quite tasty!), and attending a Queen’s University Prize Giving ceremony which I was easily able to take time off for in order to attend. We also had our Information Services and Administration induction meetings within this week, alongside a number of other new placement and graduate students.
27th June 2011
Recently, I have been learning about the uses and benefits of virtual machines with various operating systems for development purposes, which has been very interesting and a lot of fun. I have learned to set up and use my own Hyper-V and VMWare machines. I had not used virtual machines before I began my placement, so thanks to Asidua I was able to do something new and very engaging, which I’m sure I will be able to use to my advantage in the upcoming university year.
20th June 2011
I have been discovering the joys of having a limitless supply of tea, as well as having an Xbox within walking distance at all times! My second week has gone very well and I am really enjoying getting to know the other placement students and my co-workers. I have also received a lot of help from my line manager and am currently creating an inventory of information in relation to Asidua’s Customer Contact Portal, which will hopefully be a useful resource for the company and other employees. This was also a very good week for me as I received my exam results from university, which went quite well. The other placement students and I were also given many informative induction and training talks within this week, in order to best prepare us for the upcoming weeks and our future time within the company.
13th June 2011
I have just completed my first week of placement and it has been a very welcoming experience. On my first day, I was assigned to the Sales team, in Unit 15, and will be working with and learning about packages such as SharePoint Server, InfoPath, BizTalk, and Microsoft Dynamics CRM in conjunction with Asidua’s Customer Contact Portal. It is very encouraging to be involved in working so closely with the company’s products at this early stage. I would say the most valuable thing I have learned so far is how to become a morning person! Thankfully, Asidua offer flexible working hours which means I can start at 10am on mornings if I decide to revert back to my former ways.
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Alan
I am attending Queen’s University Belfast where I am studying towards a MEng in Computer Science.
Deciding to do a degree in Computer Science was an easy choice to make as from a young age I have been interested in computers and the challenges that they offer. As programming is one of my main hobbies I spend a lot of my time improving both my programming and scripting skills, with a biased focus placed on web development languages. Over the years, I have gained knowledge in ECMAScript, Java, ASM, AS3.0, SQL, C#, PCRE Regular Expression and PHP -don’t judge me, it’s an awesome language!
I was interested in joining Asidua as there was a placed emphasis on the usage of newer technologies and the learning of new skills. I am always keen to undertake new challenges, and Asidua really seemed like the right place to do this at, particularly when one of the company’s values is, “We continually learn so that we are the best at everything we do” – Which I feel I can fully relate to. I am very fortunate to have been given this opportunity to work with Asidua through this Scholarship programme.
If you want to learn more about my experiences in Asidua, please read my regular blog updates below…
29th June 2011
I feel that over the past 8 weeks I have learnt a lot. There have been many instances were interesting challenges have come up, and I feel as though there will be many more to come whilst working with Asidua. I hope to apply the knowledge I have gained whilst at Asidua to my second year of university, particularly the methodology of agile development, and the importance of standing up at the daily stand-up scrum meetings. I have also decided to start writing a Java Game Engine in my spare time, which will rely on some of the technologies that I have learnt whilst on my placement at Asidua. Particularly with using Hibernate, as I like the idea of mapping SQL results straight to POJOs, and using a versioning system during development, I have now set up on SVN on VPS for this purpose. It is great to know that I have learnt so many new things during my time at Asidua!
27th June 2011
Although the current project that I am assigned to is using Java, I have been invited to a 5 day Programming with C# Master class which will last throughout August. I have only spent a bit of time using C# when I installed mono on my VPS to make a CMS system, and a screenshot grabber/editor that uploaded the image to my VPS. It’s really great knowing Asidua can offer training that will strengthen my existing knowledge of C#!
18th July 2011
As the sprint deadlines for the newest revision of the application have arrived, there has been a lot of focus placed on confirming that the system performs as expected. During this week I therefore had to spend a lot of time testing that everything was fully functioning.
11th July 2011
During this week I spent time investigating two defects that one of the team’s Principle Engineers had pointed out to Keith and I. There was a problem with the population of a selection field when attempting to do a fuzzy match for a particular site. I had originally thought that it was just a simple race condition, as I was told the form was previously not written with an AJAX call. To confirm this I changed the XHR’s asynchronous call to no longer be asynchronous. Sadly the fix was not as easy as that! After some debugging I was able to find and fix the problem though. The other defect was much easier to fix as it was just an aesthetics problem with the location of control buttons.
4th July 2011
After using used this system for longer period of time, I noticed that it would be nice to create tools that would improve the productivity of developers. The current system requires a lot of forms to be filled in to create new Orders etc, so I spent time developing a tool which would use JavaScript Injection to manipulate the DOM and automatically complete the fields required to be filled in. Another problem with the system was that it disabled the user (And therefore the developer) from using the Right Click menu, which caused a rather annoying alert to appear. Obviously the developer cannot remove this from the system server side, so I used the same concept as before to remove this limitation client side, so that it will not cause any disruptions when it comes to deploying the WAR file for the application.
27th June 2011
This week I helped a colleague who was working on the newest Revision for the application. The requirement for this sprint was to add a new validation rule for validating the user’s inputted MD5 password. Having knowledge of both JavaScript and PCRE Regular Expression I was able to lend a hand in adding this new code. I know that JavaScript doesn’t support PCRE fully, but thankfully we didn’t need to use lookbehinds within the RegEx!
20th June 2011
The current project I am assigned to is a bespoke Java application which is designed to capture, fulfil, and report service delivery orders. This web application is written in Java and uses Java Server Pages. It is nice knowing that the project is not using servlets, as I liked the familiarity of using the JSTL provided with JSP, as I have used C# and PHP before which offer similar tag functionality. The current project also uses an Oracle database, and Oracle’s WebLogic, both of which I have never used before. Thankfully the learning curve for using Oracle’s database was thankfully not too great, as I have previous experience using mySQL .
13th June 2011
I have just completed the first week of eight placement weeks with Asidua. During this week I was given a lot of reading material to go through as I have been introduced to a very large Java application called COT+. This project has introduced many new technologies to me that I had not seen before, such as Hibernate which allows for Object-relational mapping through the creation of XML files, Spring and Struts. The atmosphere within Asidua is really friendly and relaxed. I can tell that Asidua is going to be a lot of fun as on the first day of my placement I challenged to play Mario Kart, I came last, but for my first go I didn’t do too badly! But I won’t lie; the TV and Wii within the Kitchen Area are amazing. I hope to give a more in-depth view about what project I have been assigned to in this blog next week!
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Emma
After a whirlwind of a first year, I have just completed Stage One of my MEng Computer Science Pathway, and I have spent the last 10 weeks of summer working at Asidua as a Placement Engineer.
Before attending university, ICT had always been my favourite subject at school – I especially enjoyed the programming side of my A-Level coursework. When researching courses to study during my Sixth Form years, a degree in computing offered me the best graduate opportunities and course outline, as it is an extremely diverse, dynamic and developing sector of business. I thoroughly enjoyed my first year at Queen’s, and I am extremely pleased that I passed my exams with the results that I achieved.
I feel that by attaining the Asidua Scholarship, I am one step ahead of many others that are also on my degree pathway, and that the experience that I will gain working at Asidua will be of great benefit once I graduate university. After hearing about the Scholarship during a Queen’s Open Day in 2009, I was keen to apply once I joined Queen’s in 2010. I was attracted to Asidua when researching about their software engineering side of business, as this is the area of computing that I am most interested in - I enjoy the logical thinking involved in solving problems. Asidua have given me the best foot forward in my career, and I am excited to see what the future holds.
If you want to learn more about my experiences in Asidua, please read my regular blog updates below…
1st August 2011
I have decided to stay on placement for two extra weeks – this was no trouble as Asidua are keen to keep us on! I have certainly learnt a lot in my last 2 months here. It is such a change of pace from learning in university, and my job gives me a lot of independence. It is great experience to learn how an office and its people function, especially before I go into my third year placement. This week I will continue to develop my C# skills, and also help Vicky [other Scholar] with her side of our collaboration. She has been using Silverlight and SharePoint to call my service [see Week 8], and I will be helping her to create and test this application. I have had a great time working for Asidua, and it has set me up nicely for my second year in university, keeping my brain refreshed on all the skills we learnt in our first year.
25th July 2011
Last week I was able to develop a ‘service’ using C#/Visual studio that takes in a person’s details and runs a test on them to see if their data meets a certain criteria. In combination with some of the other Scholarship students, they have begun to collaborate with me in order to call my service from Silverlight and CRM. Today I was able to successfully deploy it to the cloud. This week I will continue to develop my skills in C# - it’s remarkably similar to Java, so the transition between the two languages hasn’t been overly hard! This has made making programs much easier.
18th July 2011
In the past week I have created a ‘mini’ application and successfully deployed it to the cloud. It is an ‘Online Guestbook’, where people can upload pictures along with their name and a caption. These pictures will then turn into thumbnails when the page is refreshed. Albeit small in comparison to a project, this has proven that we can indeed deploy applications using C#/Visual Studio to the cloud. I have developed my C# programming skills – I have built on what I know already about programming through Java in my first year at university!
11th July 2011
In the coming week, I will be moving away from research, and begin developing my skills on C#, which I will be using in collaboration with Visual Studio to develop an application and which I will use to test and deploy to the cloud (Azure). This will greatly benefit my team as while they are busy with the development of CCP/CRM, I can test the capabilities of the little known ‘Cloud Computing’ research area and see how much we can deploy to the cloud in relation to the project.
4th July 2011
During last week I did not only research Microsoft Azure, but Office 265, BizTalk and SharePoint, to get a good feel for how they are intricate tools for the development of our team project. These are programs which are not covered in Stage One at university and so it was great to learn about them and how they work together to make one powerful application. This will keep me one step ahead of others on my pathway when I join Stage Two. This week I will continue to put my research into hard copies to distribute throughout the team.
27th June 2011
In the previous week I was able to complete my research on Cloud Computing, and I will spend this week putting it into a hard copy. I will also expand my research to Windows Azure, as I have been told that this is what I will be using to develop my cloud research in the coming weeks. Also, during the last week our Fifa 2011 Team Tournament has started – unfortunately I didn’t win my first match!
20th June 2011
Last week I finished the assigned ASP.NET tutorials. This week I will be researching Cloud Computing and Development, for the purpose of beginning and aiding Asidua research on how to integrate and deploy the current CRM/CCP applications to the ‘Cloud’. This research will entail learning about what is cloud computing, its characteristics and architecture, different types of cloud architecture and benefits and issues with the cloud.
13th June 2011
I have established a routine with work, and I have a few more introductory meetings to attend! Last week was all about settling in. I got to know more team members throughout the week, and it was a real experience learning how an office works. The environment is clean and friendly, and is heavily geared towards recycling and keeping the office green! I began practising my skills on ASP.NET by running through tutorials that my line manager assigned to me for the remainder of the week, developing and building upon my programming experience from what I learnt in university. I was briefed on the team project, which is the development of the CRM/CCP system that is deployed in local councils.
6th June 2011
My first day! My exams finished two weeks ago, and after one weeks summer break I have jumped straight into work. I wanted to start the placement as soon as possible as I have holiday plans later in the summer. Today has been filled with lots of introductory meetings, and it’s a good thing that during the Scholarship Awards Ceremony in January 2011 I got to know the other scholar students – now I know a few friendly faces! I got introduced to my team and they have told me that I will be briefed on what I will be doing throughout this week. I got to know my workplace, with my manager showing me where everything was – I think I need a map! Vicky [another scholar and already friend from university!] sits not too far away from me, so her moral support makes today much easier.
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Michael
I chose to study Computer Science at the University of Ulster because I am interested in software development and the inner workings of complex software systems.
Being given the opportunity to put the theory learnt in University into practice in a respected software development company such as Asidua has been an invaluable experience.
Most of the development technologies I’ve worked with in University are non Microsoft based, it was therefore a great benefit to be able to get ‘hands on’ with software applications and technologies that are developing and powering some of today’s most successful businesses. Since the start of my eight week placement at Asidua I’ve got to grips with the likes of Visual Studio, Windows Server 2008, Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Microsoft SQL Server, ASP.NET, C#, web services and cloud computing. Being able to add the skills learnt using these applications and technologies is extremely beneficial to my future education and career.
I would absolutely advise anybody going into university to consider applying for an Asidua scholarship. In addition to the excellent training and experience there are financial aids to help with the rising costs of higher level education.
If you want to learn more about my experiences in Asidua, please read my regular blog updates below…
12th August 2011
With some project test scenarios completed I performed a full write up for my line manager and others to follow on the project. I also took extracts from this write up and used them as articles in Asidua’s Knowledge Base. The Knowledge Base provides a learning database with articles for developers to read up on certain aspects of software, technologies and projects. During my work in Asidua I have used Knowledge Base and in addition there was always somebody to talk to if I needed any help with the technical stuff, I am after all still learning. My line manager was able to help me out with any problems I came across.
As this is coming near the end of my time in Asidua for this summer, most of the team in which the other scholars and I have been part off, took us out for lunch and gave us a proper send off which was fantastic. I’d like to take this chance to thank them all for their generosity.
5th August 2011
The second scenario was to check whether we could successfully communicate from an on premise CRM instance to a cloud based web service to an on premise sandbox (console) application and back again. This would form the basic architecture for the actual developed project in the future. During this time I learnt a lot about how teams develop software professionally and also how the different parts of an overall solution, developed by different people come together.
29th July 2011
The first scenario was to check whether we could successfully communicate between an on premise CRM instance and cloud based web services. For this I developed the plugin which called the web service (developed by another scholarship student). I also had to learn how to deploy the service in a simulated cloud environment using Microsoft Azure on Windows Server OS. This was an excellent advantage as I had never used either Azure or Windows Server. We successfully implemented the scenario as planned and it gave us a good starting point for our cloud based project. This was supposed to be my last week as the summer placement is typically 8 weeks long but because of the project I was working on I was asked if I would like to continue for a couple of weeks during the summer. I was only too happy to accept as the experience is very enjoyable and the financial aid is a bonus.
22nd July 2011
This week I began working on a cloud computing project which I had no previous experience of prior to this placement process. I found this work both challenging and rewarding. Using the skills learnt in the previous weeks and with the help of the other scholars we set about developing test scenarios designed to determine what is capable within the cloud in regards to current projects and resulting technologies. I found this to be extremely interesting and it felt great to be working as a part of a busy team with other scholars of similar experience.
15th July 2011
CRM provides additional functionality through the use of plugins. This was my next learning objective and I began by coding some functionality into CRM itself by using plugins to manipulate input data going into my sites DB. When data is entered into my sites GUI and sent to CRM, a plugin is fired and in turn calls a WCF Web Service which I also began developing this week. Learning about the different components which when interlinked create a working solution to a problem is a very enjoyable experience.
8th July 2011
Having done some DB work my line manager and I decided it was plausible to move onto working with Microsoft Dynamics CRM. At the highest level CRM acts as a fancy GUI frontend to SQL Server but also incorporates business logic and multi user support. CRM also provides SDK’s for working with CRM functionality from third party applications. I began incorporating CRM into my website rather using SQL Server. In effect CRM was acting as a middle man but provided a far friendlier interface than SQL Server could. I very much enjoyed learning about the different elements of CRM software as a whole and in particular the elements specific to Microsoft Dynamics CRM. It is sure to benefit any future projects I work on during my time with Asidua.
1st July 2011
Once the website supported database driven logins and user registrations as well as password resets and IP address logging, I decided with the help of my line manager to create an administration page which could monitor user accounts and change the functionality of the site through the site interface. This meant that no direct interaction with the DBMS was necessary and that my site was acting as a complete GUI for the system. During this week I also added some security measures to the site, such as prevention of SQL injection. This should benefit me in any future website work. This was the week in which one of the most important events in Asidua was taking place. The Fifa Tournament, which I entered provides a getaway from the work side of things and gives a good opportunity to get to know your colleagues. I wasn’t very good but I enjoyed the banter. I’m sorry I won’t be there to see who finally wins.
24th June 2011
Once I was familiar with C# and the Visual Studio environment I began development on a website in order to put the skills learnt in University and week 2 into practice. Once the website was developed graphically in ASP.NET I began coding in the functionality and behaviour of the web controls using C# behind the scenes. I decided it was a good idea to make the website database driven in regards to user logins. For this I started using SQL Server to store the user credentials. This gave me a good understanding of even more Microsoft applications as I had only ever used MySQL and PostgreSQL DBMS’s previously.
17th June 2011
With only having developed in Java, PHP and Python in university and in my spare, I was especially interested in working with Microsoft based technologies and applications. I started getting to grips with Visual Studio, ASP.NET and Windows Forms. For the majority I was developing in C# which is syntactically similar to Java which I was happy to discover.
10th June 2011
On the first week of the scholarship I was really excited about starting the summer placement but was unsure as to what to expect. We (the other scholars and I) where given a guided tour of the premises in Weavers court and shown our workstations. Soon after we had a team meeting where everybody introduced themselves to us and we did the same. During the first week we also had inductions for the different aspects of employment in Asidua which gave me an overview of the company and what our role within it was. I also met my line manager Ben who I would be working alongside for the duration of the placement. Ben was very friendly and made me feel at home.
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Mark
I am in my final year at Belfast Metropolitan College, studying a Foundation Degree in Software Engineering. For my placement, I joined Asidua’s Business Services hoping to gain experience programming in Java. What I got from the placement was far more than just that!
Work in Asidua
While working at Asidua, I have gone from having a working understanding of Java to having several months of practical experience working with a team of skilled developers on a web application that uses Java, Struts, Spring, Hibernate and SQL. One of my first tasks was to design and implement a set of command line tools to help automate parts of the project’s build process. These tools are now used by all the developers on the project, and I was thrilled to be making a useful contribution to the project right from the start of my placement.
Training in Asidua
I was fortunate to join Asidua near the beginning of the project, and to my initial surprise, not everyone on the team was already fluent in the use of all the frameworks and applications being used. At Asidua employees help each other to learn, so during the familiarisation stage of the project several members of the team would put together examples of what we would be developing. This learning process is continually ongoing, with Colleagues often giving master classes on topics with which they are skilled. This informal training is very effective, and it’s incredibly rewarding to occasionally teach the more experienced team members something new!
Fun at Asidua
Asidua’s Sports and Social Committee organises and helps pay for regular events such as go-carting, nights out to the theatre or cinema, and other fun activities. First Friday drinks and the monthly breakfast club are great ways to get to know your colleagues, and the competition between players of Mario Kart on the Wii in the kitchen is always fierce.
Final Thought
When I first started at Asidua I was daunted by the difference between the exercises and assignments in class and actual production code. Asidua helped me to fill in the gaps in my knowledge, while at the same time treating me the same as any other developer on the team. It is very rewarding to be able to point to a part of an application and say, “I made that.” I would definitely recommend a placement at Asidua to anyone wanting to gain real experience in Software Engineering.
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Seamus
I am Studying a Bsc Hons Computing Science Degree at the University of Ulster. For my placement I applied to work in Asidua’s Device Services division. I choose Asidua as I wanted to program hardware and gain good low level programming skills.
Work in Asidua
During my time at Asidua, I got to work primary with Linux. Using it both as a main operating system for Day to Day use, as well as my main development OS and as an embedded OS of choice for the project I worked on. My project involved creating a cross compiler, a firmware image build environment as well as creating the final Linux OS image complete with user space control utilities. A large majority of my project revolved around manipulation of network protocols and has included creation of network device drivers but also has involved hardware modifications at various times. Much of this required learning new skills as I worked on my project.
Training in Asidua
Training at Asidua started with learning the concepts that will be used in later projects. For this there is an in-house training school which shows you the basics of programming for embedded devices. There are also many opportunities for on the job training which has included embedded C and network training. Throughout my placement there where group training sessions held where senior developers would demonstrate topics that would be useful on many projects including my own.
Fun at Asidua
Asidua has a sports and social committee which organises social events. While at work and not working, you can use the Xbox 360 or Wii.
Final Thought
Asidua has been a great placement which has allowed me to develop skills and gain knowledge that will be useful later in my final year of my degree and throughout my career.
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Paul
I first got interested in computing when I was about 10 years old and my Dad brought home a box of old computer parts from his work and told me if I could build it, I could have it. From then on I was completely hooked on the hardware side of computing, although I ended up graduating with an honours degree in Physics from the University of Warwick. I finally got introduced to programming through a C Coding module and my final year project (which involved writing a simulator in C) and a summer job in a renewable energy company. I really enjoyed the logical process behind programming and began thinking about a career in the IT industry. After graduating from University I spent 6 months travelling around the world before I started job hunting, and when I did Asidua’s Device Services division appealed to my interests and also represented a brilliant new challenge for me and an opportunity to continue to learn.
Work in Asidua
My first project was to create a proof-of-concept demonstration of a new network technology running on Wintegra network processors. This involved developing the code to run on the processors and also configuring the hardware itself and ended up with me building a small network in our lab. The task seemed almost insurmountable as I had just come out of the training school but there was always plenty of help on hand to point me in the right direction when I ran into trouble. The work we do requires a massive knowledge base covering telecoms standards, electronic engineering, various programming languages (centred on C but also including various Linux scripting languages) and the inner workings of Linux itself. This knowledge cannot be gained through university (especially in my case!) but through learning a bit more every day, and with the help of those I work with. The cross-disciplinary nature of the work we do is my favourite aspect of the job; no two days are ever alike.
Training at Asidua
I spent the first couple of months in Asidua working my way through the Device Services School, which consisted of tutorials on general embedded programming (using a PowerQuicc board) and on the Wintegra network processors. The school is designed so I could work through it at my own pace and although I was encouraged to try and do it by myself, there was lots of help available if I needed it. The school was a great introduction to the work we do here; my knowledge of telecoms stretched about as far as knowing how to plug a network cable into a computer and set up the odd wireless network, but after completing the school I was amazed at how much I had learnt, and by how quickly I had learnt it. Training courses are also organised on topics such as coding practices and telecoms standards which helps keep you refreshed on the latest ideas and technologies. Asidua has a great atmosphere to encourage you to learn; you are constantly presented with new challenges and the resources are there if you want to spread your knowledge.
Fun at Asidua
At Asidua we like to work hard, and to play hard. The Sports and Social committee organise a different social every month and in the past we gone to see Spamalot in the Grand Opera House, gone Karting and had an amazing night at the Dog Races. Other monthly events are First Friday where we go to the pub (first round is on Asidua) and a breakfast club when we stock up on bacon and sausage sodas. There is an Xbox and a Wii in the break rooms so we can indulge in the odd impromptu Mario Kart championship (always useful to ease the tension of an upcoming deadline). I go to every social event I can and I find it a great way to get to know the people I work with, meet new people from other departments and gain the odd trophy to show off!
Final Thought
I have loved my time so far in Asidua. Every day I am presented with an exciting new challenge and I can’t wait to see what tomorrow brings.
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Judith
At the start of second year, in my Business with Marketing (Hons) course in Coleraine, University of Ulster, we had a presentation from final year students who had been away on placements and how it had been invaluable to them. This opened up the world of placement opportunities and their benefits to me and so I began looking on my uni career site. This linked me to Asidua. After reading the Marketing placement profile I was certain that Asidua was where I wanted to apply and carry out my placement, hopefully after reading this you will feel the same!
My placement meant taking on the role of Marketing Assistant. I provide support and assistance for all marketing activities within Asidua.
Work in Asidua
Working at Asidua has meant I have never been bored. Every week I am given new tasks to complete and some of these have included the planning of company events, helping design and create collaterals, updating Asidua’s website, participation in phone, mailer and email campaigns and being involved in creating Asidua’s internal marketing materials including the company blog.
Having such a wide range of responsibilities has meant that I have learnt new skills and gained new experiences from start to finish, something which I know isn’t the case in many placements in other companies. Not only did these tasks expand everything I had learnt from uni it has allowed me to gain firsthand knowledge and experience of real life day to day business.
Training in Asidua
Training at Asidua started with formal inductions at the beginning of the year. These provided opportunities for me to see what the company was about, how I fitted into the company and meet new people. I also found that training was very much ongoing at Asidua. Every task I was asked to complete involved on-the-job training with everything being explained and shown to me by my manager. He was able to take me through each task and any problems at all that came up he was more than helpful.
Fun at Asidua
Asidua are definitely a company who don’t just focus on work. Throughout my placement year there have been countless fun activities and events organised for employees to take part in. These have included going to Belfast Fashion Week, bowling nights, theatre nights and movie nights. Breakfast club and ‘First Friday Drinks’ have also been a firm favourite and the company also has Nintendo Wiis in both their kitchens for employees to use.
Final Thought
Taking a placement with Asidua has been one of the best decisions I have made. I have been able to take my education and knowledge of marketing from university and put it into practice in a real life business, something you don’t experience in a lecture theatre. Taking my placement here at Asidua, I have been blessed with a fantastic years work filled with new experiences, new skills and have met loads of new people, many of which I will stay in contact with after I have left. It has provided me with the necessary experience I need when I begin to apply for graduate jobs and I would without doubt recommend a placement here to anyone
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Philip
I’m currently in my final year of a Foundation Degree in Software Engineering at Belfast Metropolitan College. I was directed to Asidua by my course tutor who mentioned they hold a lot of value in placement students and place quite a few every year. I was very keen on putting my acquired skills to the test in a professional environment and believe me they have been tested!
Work in Asidua
My time at Asidua has been spent developing an automated testing system for different versions of our projects. This work has enabled me to not only gain experience in system testing but also in development for the system. I use a wide variety of software every day to help achieve my goals and my co-workers have been extremely helpful in learning to use these tools efficiently and effectively. Asidua expects you to work and, unlike other placements, will not allow you to ride on the coattails of other developers. This has allowed me to not only improve my IT skills, but time management and work ethic also.
Training in Asidua
Asidua offers a number of ‘Masterclasses’ in which employees of the company hold small lectures. The topics cover technologies or development practices useful for various projects going on throughout the company. Aside from those a lot of the training involves you yourself getting your hands dirty and learning as you go. You’d be surprised how quickly you can catch on to things when you’re trying to meet a deadline! If you’re stuck at any point you have a lot of smart people at your disposal via the internal IM system, and from my own experience any problem I can’t figure out myself is usually only a few IM’s away from being solved.
Fun at Asidua
The Sports & Social society offers a ton of great activities for employees of the company, and your friends if you want to bring them along. There are monthly activities such as bowling or live shows, first Friday drinks for letting your hair down with your workmates and of course the Xbox if you feel like taking on the reigning champions of FIFA.
Final Thought
All in all I have thoroughly enjoyed my place at Asidua. I found it to be equally as challenging as it was rewarding and highly recommend it to any placement student wanting an authentic professional experience. You’ll learn a lot about technology and software you wouldn’t get to learn about otherwise, and meet a lot of really great people.
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Shabaaz
I am currently studying BEng Electronic Engineering and Computer Science at Aston University. During my second year I wasn’t too sure if I should take a placement year but knowing that I had no work experience under my belt, I quickly realised that a placement would be highly beneficial. It would allow me to gain the experience that I need, to build a strong foundation for my future career. After reading the job specification I realised that this would be an ideal placement for me as it ties in well with my degree.
Work in Asidua
During my year at Asidua I have worked on a number of customer projects, which gave me a chance to use many different technologies and languages. Some of which are Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Microsoft SharePoint, Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft InfoPath, WCF, XML, XSLT and C#. Having learnt Java at university, this allowed me to write C# code more easily as the underlying concepts are very similar. My work included writing web services, creating forms, fixing bugs, testing, helping out with presales and much more. The atmosphere here is very lively and definitely a great environment to work in. The AGB team is very supportive as someone is always willing to help out with questions and issues.
Training in Asidua
Within the first few weeks I was given training in the form of masterclasses, walkthroughs and exercises so that I could get up to speed with the appropriate technologies and languages used within the business. At the start I was quite nervous using some of the new technologies but with the help and support of my line manager, I very quickly mastered them. Also within the first month I went to the Belfast office where I was given an introduction to the company and how it works, which helped me understand how the company operates and also where I sit within its structure
Fun at Asidua
At Asidua we have a Sports and Social team which organises social events such as meals out, pub quizzes and other sporting events such as 20/20 cricket and much more. In addition to that, there seems to be a tradition of going out for a pub lunch on Fridays, which is great way to have a laugh and also to get to know your colleagues better
Final Thought
Working at Asidua was a great step in my career development; it has given me valuable experience in software engineering and has also improved my soft skills. So if you’re looking for a placement in software engineering, I highly recommend Asidua.
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Michael
I have been undertaking a BSc in Computer Science with the University of Ulster at Jordanstown for the past 2 years. I am currently on my placement which I have secured with the Device Services department of Asidua. I had applied for a work placement with Asidua as I wanted to increase my knowledge of the local industry and make my final choice of career path easier to decide.
Work in Asidua
Working with Asidua has been an amazing experience for me. I was immediately immersed in the development of products which I have witnessed going to market and being used in industry and the real world. Although it was quite daunting at first to be working with actual products for actual customers, I eventually got through my worries with the help of the excellent team of developers here within the department. In my designated projects I have experienced a wide range of technologies and also the opportunity to see products come through the development life cycle from requirements and design, to coding, testing and release. This has broadened my practice and knowledge of the theory that I have leaned at university. It has given me a great insight into both local and international industry and prepared me well for the career choices I stand to make after my final year.
Training in Asidua
Training at Asidua is an integral part of the business. As an initial introduction to the company during my first few weeks I experienced the development ‘school’ which gave me a direct insight into the sort of work that I would be doing while I was there. I was later given the opportunity to take part in courses related to the technologies, methodologies and programming languages that I would be involved with on different projects. This, coupled with bi-weekly meetings surrounding the technologies currently in development at the company, has provided me a strong platform for developing my career.
Fun at Asidua
The social environment at Asidua is outstanding, both within the office and outside at company gatherings. A number of events run monthly giving the chance for employees to meet other people from the business. These include (but are not limited to) breakfast clubs, pool nights and bowling nights. There are also a range of events organised by the company’s sports and social committee to keep any social enthusiast happy all year round.
Final Thought
All in all my experience at Asidua has been more fulfilling as a placement than I could ever have expected. My time here has been highly beneficial both to the completion of my degree and also my future career. I will undoubtedly keep strong relationships with the people I have met here and take the skill set I have gained with me in my future endeavours.
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Christopher
I am studying for a BSc in Computer Science at the University of Ulster. I am currently working as a placement student for Asidua NI during my third year of the course. I have chosen this career path as I have a keen interest in computing and programming, and I believe that Asidua can provide me with vital experience and knowledge to succeed in the IT industry. This placement year will also give me a chance to put into practice, the theory that I have learned in my first two years at University.
Work in Asidua
During my time working at Asidua, I have been fortunate enough to have gained experience using a range of technologies that were new to me and I have also been able to build on my knowledge from University through the work I have done. So far during my time here I have worked on two separate projects, which has only been beneficial as I have been able to experience a wide range of applications and development tools.
Training in Asidua
I have received a lot of training at Asidua that will no doubt be very useful in the future, both for my final year at University and for when I finally graduate. The vast majority of training has been on-the-job training where my colleagues have passed on their knowledge when required. In my experience here Asidua employees are always more than happy to help one another out when it comes to solving a problem. Asidua also provided placement and graduate students with the opportunity to complete an in-house ASP.net training course to develop our skills set.
Fun at Asidua
Asidua has its own Sports and Social Committee that organises monthly events such as ten-pin bowling, a night at a fun park and a night at the races. Employees are also invited to go for customary first Friday drinks each month, which is another good way to socialise with colleagues outside working hours. There is also a breakfast club organised at the start of every month in Unit 10. This gives employees the chance to socialise with other employees from other teams, who they may not have regular contact with, and also a chance to get to know their own team members better.
Final Thought
Working at Asidua has given me a chance to experience the IT industry first hand and is providing me with invaluable experience that can be called upon in the future. I felt nervous at first about taking the step from studying at University to being in a working environment and I didn’t really know what to expect. I need not have worried as through help from my colleagues and the friendly atmosphere at Asidua, I have settled in well and would gladly recommend Asidua to anyone interested in a career in IT.
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Our University of Ulster Placements
Asidua’s exciting award winning industrial placement opportunities include 12 month industrial placements geared towards students taking a year-out to avail of industrial experience during their degree course, part-time opportunities for students to gain relevant industrial experience while studying their degree course, and a scholarship programme which involves various industrial experience opportunities and bursary support for successful students throughout the entire period of their degree course.
To find out more about Asidua’s scholarship programme with the University of Ulster, please visit our scholarship pages. Further information on the benefits of Asidua’s placement programme is provided below.
Our People
Read more about what our University of Ulster Placement Students and Graduates have to say about their experiences with Asidua.
Benefits of Placements with Asidua
Within Asidua, we have a strong learning and development culture, with our employees thriving on being able to share their knowledge and expertise in order to aid the development of others. By having placement students experience working life in Asidua, we feel we as an organisation are benefiting through having a fresh perspective.
Students become much more rounded individuals during their time with us. They supplement the skills and theory learnt at University with industrial experience on value-adding projects. Placement students get to work with very experienced individuals who mentor them in software engineering best practices; gain real world experience of working in teams; and increase their confidence and communications skills along the way. They also gain a better understanding of what a career in IT is all about.
In addition, when a placement students performance is outstanding Asidua offers a bursary for their remaining time in University. We also facilitate part-time working during their final year and schedule their hours to best suit their classes. We also offer graduate positions to ex-placements following an interview and take into account their performance during their placement as well as how they perform during interview.
The remuneration package is the same as for all other employees e.g. bonus, special leave, flexible working, pension, etc.Further information on careers with Asidua can be found in our “Earn and Learn” brochure.
Placement Scheme Recognition
Asidua’s placement programme has been formally recognised by both the University of Ulster and the national Council for Work Experience:
- Winner of University of Ulster Placement Employer of the year award 2009, and Highly Commended in the 2011 awards
- Finalist in gradireland Graduate Employer of the Year Awards 2011 in the “Best work experience or internship programme” category
- Highly Commended in National Council for Work Experience Work Placement of the Year Awards 2011
Why not read more about our recent awards.
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John
I joined Asidua as a Graduate Software Engineer in June 2010 having attained a 1st class degree in computer science, from the University of Ulster. My time studying was challenging yet rewarding, however my keen interest in software development fuelled my success. This accomplishment led to me being offered a position with Asidua and a week after completing my final exams I joined the Asidua team.
Work in Asidua
On arrival at Asidua I commenced work in the Device Services department. I immediately got to work familiarising myself Wintegra network processers as well as the C development language. My first project was to assist a client in the development of a network based product requiring both hardware and software knowledge. The scale of the project was quite daunting at first but with the support from my team and the willingness of other staff members has guided me through. Overall the working environment in device services is fast paced, stimulating and innovative with no two projects alike.
Training at Asidua
Asidua has provided me with all the training I have needed and then some. My role requires a vast area of knowledge something that cannot be gained from a university degree alone. As I develop for network based hardware knowledge of network communications, hardware electronics and embedded programming are required. Asidua has provided me training support in all of these disciplines and when I voiced concern over my ability in understanding the inner workings of complex hardware components Asidua were more than willing to research and organise the appropriate training.
Fun at Asidua
Not often do you associate fun with your workplace but that is certainly not the case with Asidua. There are regular events throughout the year not forgetting first Fridays where Asidua buys the first drink which always proves to be a good night out. This coupled with the spontaneous Mario kart competitions that are held throughout the day make for a great working environment. At Asidua fun is FUNdamental.
Final Thought
Asidua have given me a solid foundation to do well in this industry and looking back on my time with Asidua I am astounded by how much I have developed technically and personally.
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Type of Work
Asidua operates two distinct divisions within the company - Business Services & Device Services.
Below is an overview of the type of work typically carried out in each division.
Business Services
Asidua’s Business Services division’s core focus is to assist public and private organisations to improve the service they offer to customers as efficiently as possible. Software skill sets required include experience with a selection of the wide range of technologies associated with the Microsoft and/or JEE platforms. An understanding of Object Orientated design and practical experience via programming in languages such as Java and C# is essential.
The ideal candidate should have the capability to solve problems from first principles, have a keen interest in software best practice and its application to solving real business problems. Find out more about the work within Business Services.
Device Services
Within Asidua’s Device Services division we are building some of the coolest, leading edge technology systems which power the ever increasing capabilities of the Internet. Asidua works with multi-national companies worldwide that deliver the building blocks which make the network providing new capabilities on the internet; customers include Ericsson, Cisco, Tellabs, Fujitsu and Alcatel-Lucent. The projects that Asidua delivers ensures that the world has high speed data links to meet the demanding needs of users.
The ideal candidate needs to be a multidisciplinary engineer with software programming skills and a broad background in electronic engineering. But if you have ‘majored’ in either software OR electronic engineering and can demonstrate a passion for becoming more rounded in both technology aspects, then Asidua is the place for you. Find out more about the work within Device Services.
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Barry
I’m studying a BEng in Electrical and Electronic Engineering at Queen’s University, Belfast, and I’ve just completed my first year.
I chose to study Engineering as I felt it offered me the best graduate employment opportunities. I really enjoyed first year, and am very pleased with my results, as they put me on target for a first class honours. As a mature student I know the value of practical experience, and it was the guaranteed placements that first attracted me to Asidua’s scholarship. I am honoured to have been selected, as I know how capable and clever the other applicants are.
If you want to learn more about my experiences in Asidua, please read my regular blog updates below…
27th May 2011
There’s nothing quite like the exam season to make you relish the opportunity for a yearlong work placement. My part time placement is coming to an end and I’m looking forward to getting onto my own project, full time, from mid June onwards.
June will see the start of quite a few new placement and scholarship students, and new graduates, so it’ll also be the first big test for the Device Services School that I was charged with overhauling. Helping to get the new starts settled in will be useful for me as well. After all, it’s only when you try to explain something to someone else that you realise what how much you’ve learned.
I’m in the middle of my exams, so now’s probably a good time to summarise my second year at university. This year in QUB has been challenging. The amount and difficulty of the work has really ramped up from first year, but some of the modules were really interesting. My course encourages more and more specialisation as the course progresses, so my placement year experience will feed in to my final year module choices. It sounds strange to say that working will be just the break I need, but I enjoy my work in Asidua, so it should be a good way to ‘recharge the academic batteries’ for final year.
25th February 2011
I’ve been back working in Asidua, part time, since early December, alongside doing the second year of my course. My experience in Asidua over the summer helped me to progress quickly through some of the coursework modules, meaning that I had some spare time in my week. My hours are flexible and the work is varied. My Line Manager made it really easy for me to work my hours round my course commitments.
Splitting my hours over the week does bring its own complications though. Initially, it was difficult to make a lot of progress when you can only apply yourself to a task for a few hours at a time. Keeping good documentation becomes second nature when you get into the habit, and it makes it easier to pick up where you left off. You’d be surprised at how cryptic your own code can seem if you’ve not reviewed it in a while. Good comments can save hours of confusion.
As well as my day to day work, I’ve been able to undertake self paced learning courses available via the company intranet and from the company library. These range from soft skill courses (communication and team working) to technical courses (technology specialism and telecomms courses). There are also regular master classes and instructor lead courses which are an invaluable resource.
12th July 2010
This week felt like a short week because of the public holiday. I’m consolidating the school modifications before moving on to the more advanced WinPath (a Wintegra Network Processor) tutorials, that cover the main part of Asidua Device Service’s work. Many of the more advanced tutorials are written by Asidua staff who’ve been working with WinPath Network Processors for years. They are experts in their field, so my project will be more about applying a consistent structure from now on, as well as ensuring the material is current, and all the links work. I’ve still quite a bit of advanced material to cover though, so I’ll be busy.
5th July 2010
Four short weeks, and I’ve recapped everything I’ve covered before in programming and embedded development over the past four years, and started to expand on it. It can be quite a steep learning curve, but there are an abundance of learning resources, and people are always happy to help. Two Computer Science placements students started at the same time as me, and we’ve been working through the school at the time. Their experience with Linux has been a real help to me, as I’ve never used it before. Likewise my embedded C experience has helped them, as most recently they’ve been coding in Java.
1st July 2010
I’m currently doing my first 8 week summer placement, in Asidua’s head office, near Belfast city centre. I had really wanted my placement to be with Device Services, and that’s what I got! The office is spacious and open plan, and my colleagues are friendly and happy to help.
I’m really enjoying my placement, and thinking back to the summer before I started Uni, it’s hard to believe I’ve been this fortunate!
28th June 2010
I’ve completed just under half of the ‘Device Services Training School’ and brought the tutorials I’ve covered so far up to date. My team leader gave me an recap of what he wants me to achieve overall, confirmed that he’s happy with my progress so far, and has said he’s happy to let me do it in my own way. He receives regular email updates on my progress from the school, and my journal entries, so he’s always up to speed on my progress.
I’m trying to keep the school clear and concise, but accessible to people from a variety of backgrounds. Asidua takes on Computer Science and Electronic Engineering graduates, so each person undertaking the school has a slightly different experience at the beginning. My challenge is to ensure that the tutorials are intriguing, logically structured, and satisfying to work through, without being prescriptive.
21st June 2010
My project requires me to work through the ‘Device Services Training School’, and update and expand its content. The ‘Device Services Training School’ takes the form of a set of tutorial style embebbed development tasks. Asidua is currently taking on quite a few placement students, as well as graduate and post graduate software engineers, so there are a number of people at different stages of the School. This week, I’ve talked to those who’re ahead of me to see what they felt should be improved upon, and worked through the introductory tutorials with the other placement students who’ve started with me.
The toughest part of this week was waiting for my results, which were released on Thursday 24th. I was very pleased with them, and as there were a few QUB students who got results that day, we clubbed in for ‘team buns’ to celebrate.
14th June 2010
I’m just finishing week one of an eight week summer placement, in Asidua’s head office, near Belfast city centre. I had really wanted my placement to be with Device Services, and that’s what I got! The office is spacious and open plan, and my colleagues are friendly and happy to help. I’m really enjoying my placement, and thinking back to the summer before I started Uni, it’s hard to believe I’ve been this fortunate! I am honoured to have been selected, as I know how capable and clever the other applicants were. This week, I was introduced to my colleagues, got set up in my work space and was given details of the project on which I’ll be working over the summer.
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Dinuka
I am currently studying BEng Hons Software Engineering at the University of Ulster, Jordanstown.
I love the challenge of writing efficient and well-designed programs, figuring out how to make my programs run faster and how to better design them, and seeing the results of my efforts actually do something. I think it suits my ability of understanding and thinking logically.That is the main reason of choosing this course also software engineering is wonderful subject with lots of excitement.
I am really honoured to be one of the recipients of Asidua Scholarship programme. This is a great opportunity for me to gain knowledge in the real working environment and help develop for my furture programming career.
If you want to learn more about my experiences in Asidua, please read my regular blog updates below…
25th February 2011
I was offered part time work with Asidua and was delighted to accept. This time I will be working on a completely different type of project. It is a Java based programme but it is web-based like the previous project. This time, I will be working in Unit 10. I met my team and my manager, he explained the project and the work to me. It is good to be back at work with Asidua.
20th January 2011
Back to University after the Christmas break and got the results of my first semester examinations. I passed all three subjects. I feel that my work experience with Asidua assisted in helping me pass these examinations. I attended the work Christmas dinner two weeks ago and I met all my old work colleagues. It was really good to see them again. I was told that the customer care portal project had been completed. It was a good evening.
15th December 2010
Back home for a break from studies and looking forward to the Christmas season. Asidua invited me to their company Christmas Dinner. Looking forward to meeting up with everyone again after two months.
20th September 2010
Final day at Asidua and now I turn my attention back to my University. I am going to start my second year but this time I am going back with the added benefit of knowledge gained whilst working at Asidua, which should stand me in good stead for the forthcoming year. The projects I was assigned whilst working at Asidua were more advanced than the study work given by the University but this will only be beneficial to me in terms of my future class work.
6th September 2010
I was assigned to work on a web based customer care portal. I gained a lot of experience on Microsoft CRM. This project is in the final stages of fine tuning. We are testing the functionality of the programme and troubleshooting any errors on pages.
1st July 2010
I started my placement on the second week of June and it is a wonderful experience so far. I had my induction session in the first week and I learned a lot about the company. It is really good to work in a peaceful and friendly environment. My line manager helped me with the training I needed and I was assigned to do testing on a project which my colleges were working on.
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Matthew
I am studying Computer Science at Queens University Belfast.
I decided to choose Computer Science because after using programming in my A-Level coursework, I wanted to be able to continue learning how to write code and learn new programming languages. I feel very privileged to have been awarded with an Asidua scholarship. It is a brilliant opportunity and I am grateful for the help that Asidua has given me so far.
If you want to learn more about my experiences in Asidua, please read my regular blog updates below…
25th February 2011
I have returned back to university since my last blog entry, but I was fortunate enough that Asidua let me keep working on a part time basis. One of my days at university was quite light, so this meant that I could go to class, and then come in to Asidua. I was also provided with a laptop so that I could do some of my work from home. This was really flexible so I didn’t find it too hard to juggle my university and Asidua work.
My summer placement really helped me to do my university assignments, in particular my Games Programming module. This module was 100% coursework, in the form of a game, but it is marked on the quality of the code, so my time at Asidua really helped me to understand object orientated programming and apply it to the game.
In second year, we have to look for our placements for third year, but because of my scholarship I don’t have to! This took the pressure off and let me concentrate on my work.
16th August 2010
This week I started to make improvements to the client based on the feedback from last week’s meeting. We had some screenshots to get ready for a presentation so there was a big rush to get everything sorted. Thankfully we got them finished with time to spare!
9th August 2010
This week I continued to work on the mobile client. I had to start giving the application some visual branding for the customer. We had another meeting with members of the Asidua GB staff so that we could get some feedback on what they thought, and they gave us some advice on how the client could be improved further. Also this week was the Asidua family BBQ, it was a really good night and was made even better by the fact that Asidua paid for all the burgers!
4th August 2010
This week, I was continuing on with my tasks for the mobile client. I had some interesting tasks, like making use of the device’s camera and GPS. This week our team is giving a walkthrough of the client to some members of the Asidua GB team. This will involve sharing a desktop of one of our computers so that they can see the simulator, we are also using a webcam to show the actual device as well. It will be interesting to get some feedback from people about changes or improvements that could be made.
Our team is getting closer to getting each person’s tasks to integrate into a complete system, which is encouraging to see. Let’s hope everything works the way it is supposed to!
26th July 2010
This week I started to work on the mobile client. One of my team members, Brent, was now working on server-side development, so I was asked to continue on with the client. Although this could sometimes be challenging, it was really rewarding to see it working the way it was supposed to! We now have a blackberry, so it was nice to see the program on an actual device. The tasks that I had to complete were assigned to me by JIRA, a task management program. This made it really easy to see what I had to do.
16th July 2010
Over the first few weeks with Asidua I have had various inductions about the company. On my first day I met the team that I would be working with over the next few months of my summer placement. I had to set up my computer for development and read over the projects specification. My line manager gave me a task of creating a testing environment, using Java, that would pass commands to a simulator and save the result. After studying java in my first year at Queen’s I already knew the basics, but this task required me to know a bit more, while working on the program I felt like I had learnt more java in my first week with Asidua than I had in a whole year at Queen’s. If my lecturer is reading this, I’m only joking! I have enjoyed my time with Asidua so far and look forward to the weeks ahead.
1st July 2010
I have really enjoyed my first few weeks with Asidua and even though I have only been here for a short time, I feel that I have already learnt a lot.
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Tim
I am currently in my final year at Belfast Metropolitan College studying a Foundation Degree in Software Engineering and aiming to continue onto the University of Ulster in order to finish my Degree. I have been working in the Business Services division at Asidua for the past three months and I am thoroughly enjoying my time here.
Work in Asidua
During my time at Asidua I have worked on a very exciting and challenging project as part of the Business Services division.
Training in Asidua
The training at Asidua has been excellent; whenever I first started I hadn’t really had any hands on experience with the language used on this project and was quite nervous. In just three months I have learnt so much through the patience and hands on training provided by the members in my team.
Fun at Asidua
Asidua has been a really friendly environment to work in; everyone gets on well together and with monthly events organised by the Sports and Social Committee there’s plenty of opportunities to get out and socialise. Oh and the Wii and Xbox 360 in the kitchens are pretty fun as well!
Final Thought
Placement at Asidua has been great experience, from speaking to other students in my class I am positive I would not have been given the same opportunities and support that I’ve received at Asidua. I would highly recommend that anyone given the opportunity take a placement year.
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Jonathan
I am currently between my 2nd and 3rd year of University, studying for a master’s degree in Electrical and Electronic Engineering at Queen’s University Belfast. My degree includes a broad range of topics ranging from Power Engineering to Embedded Software Systems. Since my passion lies in software and communication systems, I was very excited to start work at Asidua, as there is a wide range of opportunities available to me. A placement at Asidua compliments my degree perfectly as I can put a lot of theory, which I have learned through university, into practise here, and have found out along the way that it is really fun!
Work at Asidua
During my time at Asidua, I have got to experiment with new leading-edge technologies from vendors who specialise in network processors. I have been involved in creating a custom Linux image for the development systems. This involved building the Linux kernel from scratch and creating a root environment which the user can interact with. I have also been involved in figuring out how to port a boot loader over to the new development system. This involves working with flash memory locations as well as low level drivers that enable the system to boot up correctly. The work is challenging and interesting, and I feel that my placement at Asidua has really prepared me for a future career in I.T./Telecommunications.
Training at Asidua
The training at Asidua is fantastic. The company has put together a “Training School” which new employees undergo. The school teaches you the basics in programming, as well as more advanced topics. Topics include creating a serial driver for a PowerPC board as well as driving an LCD display with I2C and manipulating device registers. The school is very well written and help is always at hand from experienced members of staff who are always willing to sit down and help you.
Fun at Asidua
Asidua offers a calm, comfortable working environment with many activities on offer for employees. There is a Wii and Xbox 360 for a bit of lunchtime fun and the Sports and Social committee regularly organise staff and family nights out, which are a great way to meet employees who you wouldn’t normally work with.
Final Thought
I can’t think of a company that compliments my degree better than Asidua. Working at Asidua has prepared me for a future career in I.T, as well as helped me put my university theory into practice, which will assist me in my final year project. The range of opportunities available at Asidua is excellent and I feel that I am learning new things every day. Employees are friendly and if you ever need help with something, there is always an experienced engineer close by.
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Darren
I joined Asidua as a Graduate Engineer in September 2006 after graduating from the University of Ulster at Jordanstown with an Honours degree in Software Engineering in July 2006. When I left University, I wanted a job that would challenge me and give me a broad spread of experience in different areas of IT.
Asidua offered a proven track record in delivering large scale projects, involvement with a wide customer base in both the public and private sectors and the opportunity to work with cutting edge technologies in a challenging environment.
Work in Asidua
My first role with Asidua was in the transformation of a PSTN Fault and Repair systems architecture for a major telecoms company. This gave me the opportunity to be involved in one of the biggest and most high profile undertakings the telecoms industry has seen in recent years and I had exposure to XML technologies, UML and Siebel CRM.
More recently, I have moved to a development role, gaining invaluable skills in C#.NET and SQL Server. With Asidua being a Microsoft Gold Certified partner, you get the opportunity to develop your skills in the latest technologies and learn from the skilled and experienced people that work here. Working with Asidua has given me a great balance between enhancing my soft skills and my technical skills, making me a more rounded professional.
Training at Asidua
In Asidua, you receive training not only in technical areas, but also in soft skill areas. On joining, Graduates take part in a ‘Graduate Development Programme’, which includes material on Presentations, Effective Communication and Personal Effectiveness. There is also the opportunity to go on an overnight residential with your fellow graduates – it’s great fun and a brilliant way to get to know other people in the same position as you.
Asidua recognises the need for its people to be up to speed on forefront technologies by providing internal and external training courses which usually reflect a combination of current business need and your personal goals. I have been on courses in XML technologies, Biztalk, ASP.NET and C#. I’m currently working towards attaining my UML Certification and also plan to do a .NET Certification next year.
Fun at Asidua
In Asidua, there is a Sports and Social team, which organises monthly outings. Recently, there have been trips to the theatre, the VIP Cinema and a Nintendo Wii Mario Kart tournament held in Asidua’s Belfast office. There is also ‘First Friday Drinks’ on the first Friday of each month and Breakfast Club twice a month. Flexible working hours allows you to start and finish work at a time that suits you as long as you work during the core hours.
Final Thought
I thoroughly enjoy working for Asidua – they have given me the opportunity to work in interesting, challenging and diverse environments and learn invaluable skills that will help me progress in my career.
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Andrew
I started studying towards my degree course, MEng in Computer Science, at Queens University Belfast in September 2008.
I have always been interested in computing and its capabilities. Over the years, as technology has developed, so too has my interest in this field and this prompted me to pursue a career in Computer Science. Having friends and relatives who work in this field also pushed me towards this choice… I would enjoy working with Computers as a career.
If you want to learn more about my experiences in Asidua, please read my regular blog updates below….
27th May 2011
Coming to an end of the placement term, only 3 weeks remaining now! Project Red has been and gone and I have moved onto the new Project Cardinal.
The work is similar to as beforehand, writing automated tests in JavaScript with some basic HTML. The tests are used to call APIs that have been developed but once again the project is under NDA so can’t say any more!
Outside of the work, I recently started organising 5 a side football with some other workers in Asidua (after an early retirement from Mario Kart) which will hopefully continue to provide plenty of entertainment!
25th February 2011
I am currently 8 months into my year placement with Asidua working on the elusive ‘Project Red’ which unfortunately is still under NDA so cannot disclose information about it!
The time has flown by so far and the work and skills developed should be a great help whenever I am in final year and beginning to get back to university life. Asidua also provided.Net masterclasses which gave a diversity in the work I was studying. Not forgetting the huge important games of Mario Kart which have been a big highlight of the year!
26th July 2010
With the second year out of the way, I was eager to get started at work again at Asidua so I took the earliest possible start date after my exams. I am now part of the RED project at the company which involves JavaScipt testing for a product that Asidua are helping to produce. There are a number of other placements in the project who are staying on despite their year placement having already finished so the signs are good that I’ll be in for a good year here and I’m looking forward to the experience.
15th March 2010
I’m now currently midway through my 2nd Semester, after having finished my first semester Exams which went well as I achieved a good result in all of my modules! This 2nd semester modules consists of studying Multimedia Systems, creating a Group Project (another game!) and studying Data Structures and Algorithms. So far, this term seems to be a lot more of a hands on approach with a lot of practical continuous assessment which is a different approach to beforehand. In fact one of my modules has already stopped having lectures at the midway point to allow more work on our project.
Some people still haven’t found a placement yet for next year which is rapidly approaching so I’m glad that once again I haven’t been burdened by having to chase after a placement and being able to focus on my course. I see that Asidua have found the batch of scholars to continue the Scholarship programme and they will be reaping this benefit next year!
1st October 2009
While the other scholarship winners had a few weeks break after their placement, there was no rest period for me as it was straight into University work following my first day off. The modules that I’ve been studying this semester are Database Systems, Games Programming and, the hardest of all, Computation Theory (which is as hard as the name suggests!). I hope to post another blog update close to the summer break.
25th September 2009
In my final week at Asidua, I had to return to Queens again in order to talk about the Scholarship in front of the new first years, although I was nervous at the idea of speaking in front of over 100 people it wasn’t anywhere nearly as bad as I had convinced myself it would be. I also designed several more Web Pages on the website using .Net, in order to allow for updating and deleting information from Detections/Repairs and the Area Managers using SQL queries and stored procedures.
18th September 2009
After having finished the NUnit Tests, I was given an assignment of creating a web Front end using Visual Studio. This would mean that I would be using some of the features that I had learnt in the initial weeks in the tutorials. In order to complete this I had to use Data binding in order to attach an SQL query that was created in order to query a larger database. These results were then displayed on the Home Page of a website that was created for NI Water in order for them to view information about their Detections and Repairs in a more efficient way. In order to do this I used C# code although it would have been possible to data bind by using features included in Visual Studio.
11th September 2009
The highlight of week 6 was going to Queens University in order to represent Asidua at the Queens Open Day. Having previously been at these sort of fairs as a student it seemed strange taking part on the other side of the stalls! It involved me talking to students about the amount of career opportunities and benefits that come from embarking on a career in IT. While at Asidua I spent the time developing the NUnit Tests.
4th September 2009
Week 5 was a short week due to having the Bank Holiday on the Monday but was broken up even more so by a series of induction presentations with a number of other newcomers. A previous placement student had rejoined the company on a permanent position so it showed me that there definitely was opportunities for me at Asidua if I put the effort in. It was also in this week that I began writing NUnit tests on code that Asidua had previously developed.
28th August 2009
It was back to getting up again at 6.30 after my week off, I had actually began to adapt to the early starts near the end of the initial two weeks but the weeks holiday had thrown me off all over again! During this week I was introduced to Microsoft CCF(Customer Care Framework) and was told that I would be beginning to look at Testing on some of the projects that had been designed. This meant ensuring that the projects did what they were supposed to do and that they did not contain errors. Whilst originally using a manual approach by checking the results off a database, it meant that near the end of the week that I had to begin looking at using NUnit which I had never used before in order to do the testing so this was something new for me.
21st August 2009
My third week was actually a week off for me, over the 8 weeks we were allowed a certain number of holidays and as I was doing volunteer work back home in Portadown, Asidua was willing to let me take my full allowance during this week which I was thankful for.
14th August 2009
My second week at the company was also the last week of the other two scholarship students, Queens student Niall McAllister and a University of Ulster, Magee student Sean Carlin. Because of only really having studied Java at Queens, I was wary of how I would be able to adapt to C# as well as the other software such as Visual Studio, however these initial weeks were full of tutorials that Asidua provides which helped to show me that there wasn’t much difference between this and what I learnt except for the fact that I probably preferred using Visual Studio rather than JCreator.
7th August 2009
After having had two months of summer, I was excited to finally begin my 8 weeks placement at Asidua. As part of the scholarship meant that I had previously met members of Asidua’s staff, it helped to reduce the nerves that I was feeling as I didn’t feel as thrown into the deep end when it came to new faces. I started on the same day as a Queens graduate who was beginning full time work at the company so the fact that he was there permanently made the idea of only 8 weeks work seem a lot easier of a task. The first week was mainly about settling in to my work space and getting an idea of what would be expected from me during my weeks here.
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Brent
In 2009 I graduated from the University of Ulster with a first class Honours Degree in Computer Science. I worked for Asidua during my placement year and they also kept me on part time during my final year. A Placement year can be beneficial in so many ways; It gives you hands on experience which you can’t gain in a classroom environment. It also gives a chance to apply the techniques you have learnt so far in a real world situation as well as learning new things that will aid you in your final year. Most importantly it provides the opportunity to meet new people and partake in the companies social activities.
Work in Asidua
During my time at Asidua I have worked in 3 different teams within their Business Services Division. Using a range of Technologies including Java, C# .Net and Web Technologies I have been responsible for maintaining/enhancing existing Simulation software and providing customer support for said software. I was able to use the Software I created within Asidua as part of my Final Year Project. Not many people can say they got paid for doing their final year project. Since becoming a Graduate Engineer at Asidua I have been given the task of developing an automated Test Suite/Framework that tests a series of Web Services.
Training in Asidua
I have learnt so much through ‘hands on’ training at Asidua. When I first started I was nervous about the work I had to do as I wasn’t familiar with certain technologies. However, my confidence and development knowledge grew each day through the mentoring of my Line Manager and senior members of staff who were always willing to provide guidance. Now that I have returned as a Graduate the ‘hands on’ training has continued to enhance my skills. During my graduate training my communication skills were enhanced by the presentation I had to give. I gave my presentation on ‘Starting a Band’ and because it’s something I am passionate about I was able to stand up and give a clear and confident presentation in front of my colleagues.
Fun at Asidua
Asidua provides a friendly working environment and their sports and social committee are always putting on events and activities. I can have a laugh with my fellow team members and we certainly make good use of the Wii that’s in the chill out zone… Mario Kart is a very addictive game.
Final Thought
The experience and constant support that Asidua provided throughout my placement year and final year was a massive help to me. They always tried to accommodate my needs and be understanding when I needed time off for exams and coursework. I could not have achieved a first class degree without the knowledge, experience and guidance that Asidua provided every step of the way.
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Sean
I’m currently studying towards a BSc in Computer Science degree in University of Ulster Magee Campus, which commenced in September 2008.
I chose this degree because I enjoy working with computers and enjoy computer programming. I have a genuine keen interest in computing and I believe I have the skills and the drive to maximize the benefits from the Scholarship programme with Asidua. I am a logical and problem solving minded individual. I also enjoy working in a team and socializing.
If you want to learn more about my experiences in Asidua, please read my regular blog updates below….
27th May 2011
I am currently close to finishing up my placement year, I was due to leave at the end of June but Asidua gave me the opportunity to work a little bit extra over the summer so I am planning to work an extra month and save a bit of money before final year. The project I am working on is quickly coming to an end and we are in a very important stage in testing and maintenance where we are fixing all the final bugs and tweaking bits of functionality for the client.
The testing and maintenance stage really made me understand the importance of documentation and how much it improves the efficiency of maintaining a system, having something to reference and look up really saves a lot of time. I am really glad I got to work on the same project from the start of my placement to the end because I can see where the project was a year ago and how much it has been improved and developed since then, which feels quite satisfying.
I am looking forward to getting all my university placement assessments and visits wrapped up so I can really enjoy the last month of my placement, prepare for final year and look forward to summer. Hope you found the blog update informative and I am sure ill update the blog again soon.
25th February 2011
I have been working as a placement engineer for Asidua for around 8 months now and I must say I have really enjoyed it. Since I have been here I have got to experience how the company really works and how to deal with clients specifications along with creating an appropriate solution.
Asidua welcome employees to put forward ideas of how to solve a problem or maybe to add to an existing solution which really made my input feel acknowledged and appreciated. Asidua also provided me with the same training as they would give a graduate student, as I received .NET 4.0 training from an in-house Senior Software Engineer which gave me a further understanding of what ASP.NET can really achieve and also its limitations. I also received informal training from my project manager and colleagues to get me up to speed with the project I am working on and all the terminology/technology that is currently used, for example the project uses SQL SERVER, SSIS, SSRS, BIZTALK, SharePoint and .NET. I had to become familiar with some of these technologies through informal verbal walkthroughs from colleagues and documentation etc.
I have also enjoyed all the small benefits here as well as the big ones, such as the sports and social events where the company organises nights out or special events for all the employees once a month, I am also a member of the sports and social committee within the company as well which means I can suggest events and organise them if the rest of the committee agree.
Overall I am really pleased how my placement has been so far and the responsibilities and tasks I received. I am also surprised how much I actually have learned and improved since I have started and hopefully I’ll continue to learn and improve until the end of my placement year. I hope you found this blog post helpful and I’m sure I’ll post again soon.
26th July 2010
I have just finished the first week of my placement and it feels good to be back here at Asidua, seen a lot of familiar faces in my building unit. I had to complete the Asidua induction meetings I attended last year again, but I enjoyed meeting the new graduate and placement students at the meetings as well as catching up with the people I have already met from last year. I have been assigned my project which is eSchools and I have met the members of my team and they filled me in with a project overview. The project is quite large, complex and database oriented, but I am sure I will get to know the finer details of the system over time. Overall I really enjoyed my first week, meeting everyone, getting back into my working routine and even blogging again. Hope you enjoyed the blog update and I plan to update the blog again soon.
12th March 2010
I am currently half way through my 2nd semester at Magee. It is the most difficult semester yet but I have also been having a lot of fun so it has balanced out. I have recently been one of the speakers at Magee’s open night presentation which went very well. My modules this semester include algorithms and data structures, human computer interaction and networks and data communications. I am finding the networks the most interesting module, part of one of our assessments was to create a website and maintain a blog. I decided to code my own blog from scratch using PHP and MySQL which turned out very nice and then I integrated it into my new website which is currently online.
On a more technical update I have decided to try out some Linux distributions I have installed Ubuntu for home use and use Open Suse in the university labs. I have been learning a few Linux terminal commands and exploring the many open source tools available on the operating system. I am really looking forward to the summer and starting my full year placement with Asidua I have already got my accommodation sorted out so all that is left is to finish up my exams in May. I am sure that I will be posting up more blog updates soon and throughout my placement period.
22nd November 2009
I am near the end of my 1st semester of second year at Magee and it has been a fairly enjoyable experience so far, also looking back at the summer placement I really enjoyed the working atmosphere and experience which I received. In second year there seems to be a lot more assessments and projects which is a bit frustrating as there are a lot of deadlines. I am glad that I have my placement already organised with Asidua because I have started to see everyone applying and competing for placements and it is a weight of my shoulders not having to worry about getting a placement. Currently I am learning C++ in my algorithmic programming classes which is quite fun. I have noticed that I have grasped a lot of concepts quite easily because of my experience with ASP.NET and C# in the summer. I have decided to learn more about ASP.NET 3.5 and SQL server 2008 outside of university as well.
Recently I attended a prize giving by the university and received two prizes for the best first year student in computer science which has given me more motivation to try hard for the January exams coming up. I am enjoying second year even though it is a lot more challenging than first year and I am looking forward to seeing what the second semester brings and of course, my placement.
14th August 2009
This was my last week of my summer placement and I spent this week going through the feedback left about the site template, thankfully there were only minor changes and implementing these changes to the templates did not take very long.
7th August 2009
By mid-week I had completed the customer-facing site’s template and my manager sent my work away for review to the managers and customers. I would wait for feedback and I would make changes to the site template according to the feedback that I received.
31st July 2009
My objective this week was to capture the customer external facing SharePoint site’s initial requirements, to do this we organised a meeting with the customer and discussed what SharePoint can do for them. After collecting the information to develop the customer facing site, the rest of the week I had to develop the template.
24th July 2009
I started on the account management template in SharePoint, which was to be designed so Asidua could manage all their projects from one master site/portal. I really enjoyed this week because I got to use all the knowledge of SharePoint’s functionalities that I had gained from the previous week and use it in a real life situation. By the end of this week I had completed the account management facing site.
17th July 2009
This week my line manager introduced me to the project that I would be working on. I would be creating templates for SharePoint sites, both at the account management and customer level. The rest of this week I spent getting up to speed with SharePoint and all of its functionalities. I found some useful books in Asidua’s library about SharePoint that explained and clarified a lot of my questions.
10th July 2009
During this I learned the basics of ASP.NET and started using SQL server 2008. I learned how to create web forms in ASP and submit the data to an SQL database. The SQL was easy as I had previous experience with SQL and getting to grips with ASP was not hard after what I had learned in week 2.
3rd July 2009
Before I started my summer work placement with Asidua, I had knowledge of using java, php and mysql. So this week I started familiarizing myself with some technologies that Asidua use. I started using Visual Studio 2008 and learning the basics of C#. Surprisingly I found that C# was incredibly similar to Java, I actually thought that using visual studio 2008 combined with coding in C# was easier than coding in Java.
26th June 2009
On my first week I was really excited to be part of Asidua and to start my summer work placement with them. During this week Niall (another scholarship student) and I basically had an introduction to the company. The Introduction included meeting executives, managers, learning Asidua’s procedures and getting a guided tour of the buildings (Unit 10 and 15). We quickly got settled into are work spaces and I was glad that the other scholarship student was not too far away from me.
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Niall
I am currently working towards a BEng in Computer Science at Queens University Belfast, which I commenced in September 2008.
I attained 3 A’s at A level in Maths, Economics and ICT. I chose to do a degree in Computer Science as computers have always fascinated me. They are used in every aspect of our lives and this is why I am eager to find out as much as I can in this area of study. I feel a career path in Software Engineering has excellent prospects and its ever changing nature really excites me. I applied for this Scholarship opportunity with Asidua as I feel it would give me excellent experience in a field I am very much looking forward to entering.
If you want to learn more about my experiences in Asidua, please read my regular blog updates below….
27th May 2011
I’m now coming to the end of my time at Asidua, only another 2 months left. The project I was working on for the majority of my placement is now complete and I am onto a new one now. The latest project is a similar idea, where I am on a team which is writing a set of automated tests which will run on a daily build to gage the state of the build. Our tests exercise the APIs used on the product and so, if our test run completes with a high pass rate then it’s clear that the build is in good working order. If not, we have to investigate why the tests are failing and either fix a problem if it’s in the test code or raise a bug against it which ultimately improves the quality of the product if these are picked up early.
On this project I’m working with JavaScript like before, but also some HTML. Another thing which has started up recently is 5 aside football, once a week amongst a group of us in the company. It’s been great craic and going into my final few weeks I’m hoping my team can maintain their position at the top of the league! 
25th February 2011
I’m now nearly eight months into my placement and everything is going well. The project I started on is taking shape and should be coming to an end soon.
During my time here, I have learned a lot through working on my project, though I have also been given the opportunity to attend an ASP .net master class course which was very useful. This has given me an insight into another language which could prove valuable to me further down the line in my career.
26th July 2010
When I returned to Asidua,I was happy to hear I’d be working in Unit 10 along with the other Queen’s scholar Andrew. During my first week I was given the task of familiarising myself with the project I’d be working on. I also shadowed some people on the team, taking notes on how to complete the tasks they were doing. On this first week I was also introduced to Unix and JavaScript which are two languages used regularly on the project and I am picking them up well.
12th March 2010
I am into the second semester of second year now and things are going well. My modules this semester are all compulsory; Data Structures and Algorithms, Multimedia and Software Engineering. These are progressing well and hopefully I can achieve good results in these ahead of my summer placement.
As I’ve said before, I am delighted to have my placement already in place with Asidua as many on the course are struggling to obtain one in the current climate. I am looking forward to further developing my programming skills over the coming year and with the weeks passing by so fast this semester, I’ll be on my placement in no time.
16th November 2009
After my work experience with Asidua over the summer, I started back to University in late September. The three modules I’m completing in my first semester are Networks and Communications, Database Systems and Games Programming. Although I had hoped they were trying to scare me, it is true what I was told by the other placement students at Asidua; the second year on the Computer Science degree is much harder than the first. However, I am still enjoying it and some of the work I did over my summer placement is starting to come in handy.
Our games programming module uses Visual Studio which I was introduced to during my time spent with the company over the summer and so I’m glad to have had some knowledge of this before beginning the course. As the weeks pass by, I’m looking forward to my placement year with Asidua, and glad I don’t have to stress about interviews for theirs, like others on my course!
14th August 2009
This week was spent learning a bit more code, both from textbooks and the internet, and then doing other things like my exit interview. On the second last day Sean and I got buns for our unit from a local bakery. Although we did this to thank everyone in the building for their help over the 8 weeks, I had the underlying motive of sweetening up my team before my presentation the next day! This was basically a 20 minute presentation during which I showed them what I had done for the actual team project. This turned out to be very good fun and although nervous at the start, I enjoyed it.
7th August 2009
During the course of this week I put the finishing touches to the report, formatting it to look as close to what they wanted as possible. I was impressed by the report builder software. It simplifies what would take the end user weeks to produce using their current paper based system. It also offers the ability to make the report interactive i.e. drilldowns, something I included in my work.
31st July 2009
This week, I began another new job. This time I was going to be using Reporting services. I was making a report from one of the tables used in the team database. It had to be programmed so the user feeds in 4 parameters and this is what sorts the search. They also had to be able to specify the dates between which they wanted to see the report. I also gave the report a drill down function; where the user can click on parts of the graph to get a more detailed view of this particular day.
24th July 2009
It took me the majority of this week to finish my second sprint and test it. Then I had a meeting with my line manager and I explained the system to him. As we went through it, he made some suggestions, about layout etc, and then I made these changes to the file. Also during week 5, two students began their year out in our building. They tried to scare us as to what’s in store for us next year at University but other than that, good fun.
17th July 2009
Over the first half of this week I put the finishing touches to my first job and tested it. I was really surprised how easy Visual Studio made things with its drag and drop feature. On Thursday I was given my next sprint. Again it was a web front end, but this time linking 2 tables, using a filter to filter the results of both, both tables had to be fully editable and this time, the user had to be able to delete and insert new data into the tables.
10th July 2009
I was given an overview of what I was going to do in a meeting with my line manager and then he made out a sprint backlog for me to follow, which broke the job into steps and allowed me to view the estimated time for each section and then edit how long it really took me! Again, this was something I was impressed with-using this time scale, of where you ‘should’ be and where you are in your assignment, a burn down chart is produced showing your progress against where you should be. My job was to build a web front end on Visual Studio for one of the database tables used in my teams project, allowing the user to filter the results of their search through a drop down list, which displayed the available options. I also had to provide the user with an edit feature so they could edit the results.
3rd July 2009
During this week I was doing asp tutorials, both online and from a book, and I also went to my first team meeting. This gave me a better insight into the project and what my team was working towards. I was impressed with how organised it was; in that there were various issues we worked through which had been raised on the team site by team members and these were discussed and then either removed if the issue was solved, or left at ‘in progress’ if more work was required on it. Also, as this week went on I got to know Sean (the other scholar) better and the craic improved as well!
26th June 2009
Over this first week I went through all sorts of inductions, from meeting the bosses to being told of the free drinks Asidua offers on the first Friday of the month! In between this I met my team from the project I was going to be working on and began to learn my way around the building. Then I started my tutorials, beginning with C#. I had never used C# but with the help of those in my team I realised it was very similar to Java and began to grasp the idea.
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Current Scholars
Our Scholars reflect on;
- Their time in Asidua either during the summer break between their first and second year at University, or their year out placement;
- The benefits their Scholarship is having on their studies and long term employability.
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Our Placements
Within ‘Our Placement’ section you can find out more about our exciting and award winning placement programs.
Why not check out one of the many profiles from our current placement students and get an insight into what a placement at Asidua is like? Further information on the benefits of spending your placements with Asidua and also details how you can apply are provided below.
Placement Profiles
Benefits of Placements with Asidua
Within Asidua, we have a strong learning and development culture, with our employees thriving on being able to share their knowledge and expertise in order to aid the development of others. By having placement students experience working life in Asidua, we feel we as an organisation are benefiting through having a fresh perspective.
Students become much more rounded individuals during their time with us. They supplement the skills and theory learnt at University with industrial experience on value-adding projects. Placement students get to work with very experienced individuals who mentor them in software engineering best practices; gain real world experience of working in teams; and increase their confidence and communications skills along the way. They also gain a better understanding of what a career in IT is all about.
In addition, when a placement students performance is outstanding Asidua offers a bursary for their remaining time in University. We also facilitate part-time working during their final year and schedule their hours to best suit their classes. We also offer graduate positions to ex-placements following an interview and take into account their performance during their placement as well as how they perform during interview.
The remuneration package is the same as for all other employees e.g. bonus, special leave, flexible working, pension, etc.
- Interested students should visit our current vacancies page in order to view our current vacancies within Asidua.
- Year-out placements are available within Belfast and Birmingham only.
- Summer Placements and Scholarships are available only within Belfast.
- Please note that CV’s will not be accepted. Asidua application forms only are accepted for these positions.
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Lindsay
I joined Asidua GB in October 2007, after about 3 years experience in web application development. I had enjoyed my previous role, but felt the benefit to be gained from extending an existing web application had pretty much reached its limit. The idea of project based work at Asidua really appealed as it seemed like the perfect opportunity to expand my knowledge and skills in many different areas. The thought of leaving behind a system and a team that I knew inside out was daunting, but the guys at Asidua were extremely welcoming and I soon gained a huge amount of experience.
Work In Asidua
The project based work at Asidua meant I quickly expanded my experience to include Smart Client applications, SQL Server Reporting Services and SharePoint Development. The current project we are working on is centred around integrating applications using Microsoft CCF. Working on new technologies means we can’t rely on the internet for help, but this makes it all the more satisfying when we find a solution. Working in relatively small project teams also means that everyone gets involved in everything, so we all gain experience with design, development and deployment. The large team that I worked in before I joined Asidua was very rigidly structured, which limited my exposure to different areas of the complete development process. I’ve also been involved with discussing requirements and issues with the customer, which is something I have really enjoyed.
Training at Asidua
The nature of the work here means you are learning new things every day. The team work very closely together, which naturally leads to lots of knowledge sharing. I’ve been on training courses for various technologies, and been given study leave to prepare towards Microsoft Certifications. I find it far easier to learn from other people than from books and exams, but it is good to know that Asidua will provide more formal training when I feel it’s useful.
Fun at Asidua
Asidua are very keen to ensure that everyone feels there is a good work-life balance, which is the reason behind the flexibility in working hours, and the contribution to regular sports and social events. For me, one of the most important things about working life is that I enjoy spending time with the people around me. We all know each other well here in the Birmingham office, so there is often a bit of banter going on to break up the day. Most of the guys take their lunch break together, and we regularly visit the pub for Friday lunch. All of this leads to a very relaxed atmosphere, even though there’s lots of hard work to be done!
Final Thought
The diverse range of projects that you will contribute towards at Asidua will ensure you are provided with the opportunities and challenges to gain new skills in many different areas. Asidua strongly believe that there is room for career progression for each individual within the company, and the knowledge and experience needed for progression comes naturally from the variety of work we do and the relaxed structure of project teams.
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Scott
I graduated from Aston University with a BSc (Hons) Computer Science degree in 2007, shortly after I found out about Asidua through a trip to a local careers fair. I soon started work at the Birmingham office in September 2007. The Birmingham office is a fairly new and growing team and I found the atmosphere to be friendly and relaxed, I liked it enough to recommend the job to a friend, who is also now working for Asidua.
Work In Asidua
When I left University my aim was to try and find a job that would allow me to stay up to date with the current tools and programming languages, as one of my biggest fears was that I’d start a job and find I was maintaining a legacy piece of software, or testing for my first couple of years. Fortunately this is not the case at Asidua, as since starting work at Asidua I have been involved in a number of different projects, using .net, asp.net, JavaScript, active directory, SharePoint and BizTalk. I’ve designed and implemented software components and carried out various pieces of investigative work.
Training at Asidua
I started as a Graduate Engineer on the Asidua graduate training programme, this involves training in Belfast once a month on various soft skills, as well as two team building activity days which are a great way of making friends and contacts with people from the other offices. I have attended a BizTalk training course, as well as having the books and exams paid for a Microsoft Certification allowing me to gain Certified Web Applications Specialist accreditation. Rather than using the same technology for every project, I get to use whatever is most suited for the task in hand, allowing me to learn a variety of products and languages which definitely keeps things interesting for me.
Fun at Asidua
We have regular company sports and social events, such as bowling, cricket and going to the races, which the company kindly pays towards. As an office we normally go out for lunch every Friday which is a good way of getting to know the people you work with. The Birmingham office is located on a business park surrounded by scenic conservation land which is often used at lunchtime for walks, which is a nice way of breaking up the day. We have flexible hours which allows you to have the choice between a little longer in bed or leaving early which is often very useful, especially if you’ve got somewhere to be.
Final Thoughts
Asidua is providing me with the opportunity to work on a variety of projects using current and future technologies, giving me experience, that will only stand me in good stead for the rest of my career. The work/life balance is great and I’m continually learning on every project. I’ve enjoyed my time here so far and I’m looking forward to the future and watching the Birmingham office expand.
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Paul
I graduated from the National University of Ireland, Galway in August 2002 with an Honours degree in Information Technology. I then moved to the U.K. for four years, working as a Cache developer for three of these years. Following this I travelled Asia, Australia and New Zealand for 18 months. On my return I realised that I’d been out of the IT world for so long that my programming skills had become outdated. I saw graduate programmes as being my best way of getting back into the IT industry. The programme on offer from Asidua met with the criteria that I was looking for – an introduction to the latest technologies, study towards recognised certifications and a structured progression upwards through a successful company.
Work in Asidua
Since starting in April 2007 the work has been hectic but enjoyable. I think this comes from the fact that we’re still a smallish office in Dublin, so it means that you’re constantly involved in and aware of whatever is going on. My first project used Microsoft ASP.Net and C#, as well as Windows Workflow Foundation and SQL Server. As I was new to these technologies it was a challenge getting up to speed on them but the training I was provided with, along with the help offered to me from others in the company meant that I was fully comfortable when the time came to start developing.
Training at Asidua
The training offered by Asidua is extensive. They understand that a business is only as good as their people and so they invest heavily in them. In the first nine months of the job I’ve taken and passed a Microsoft Certified course on the .Net framework and will take the next course on web-based development before the end of my first year. I’ve also attended a week long course on the BizTalk framework, as it looks like this will be needed for future projects. The graduate scheme also provides a lot of additional, non-techie training. The scheme includes modules on communication, time management and presentation skills – which are essential to have, especially for those entering a working environment for the first time. It also includes team-building days away which are a great laugh and give you a chance to really get to know the rest of the graduates.
Fun at Asidua
My team gets on really well together, which makes for a fun and relaxed working environment in itself.We also try to get out and do something after work once a month, whether it’s a night racing at the dog track, going to a gig or just going for dinner and a few drinks, we always manage to have a laugh.
Final Thought
I’ve only been with Asidua a short while but am enjoying it hugely. Not only is the work new and interesting but I’m also picking up lots of valuable knowledge and skills that will help me as I progress in my career.
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Stacy
I joined Asidua as a graduate engineer in February 2008 after completing a placement year in the company in 2005 / 2006. I graduated from Queen’s University in July 2007 with a 1st Class Masters degree in Computer Science and Maths. My degree not only enabled me to improve a number of skills but it also gave me a passion for learning and fuelled my ambition to do well in the future and have a successful career.
Work in Asidua
I completed my placement year in Asidua. I had an excellent year and thoroughly enjoyed all aspects of the job. I gained experience of working in a team environment on a live project for one of Asidua’s clients. Asidua provided me with a number of excellent opportunities and from day one treated me as a valued member of staff. I returned as a Graduate in February 2008. I wanted a job that would enable me to firstly gain valuable experience in development – especially using .NET as this is what I had been gained experience in during my placement. Ultimately my aim is to go into the Business Analyst side of things and then perhaps move on to do project management. I enjoy working with people and in the future would like a more customer facing role in IT.
I am currently working on a project that involves MS .NET technologies and SQL Server and XML related technologies. I am developing in C# and using technologies such as SQL Server Integration Services and Reporting Services. The work is interesting and challenging and I am continually learning both new things; and better ways to do things.
Training at Asidua
I know that Asidua will provide me with all the opportunities I need to build a successful career in the IT industry. They will provide me with the development experience that I need and also the appropriate training in all areas. I also know that the work involved will challenge me on a daily basis and that I will never be bored in my work here. The company provides excellent career progression opportunities and they really do take on board your aspirations for the future and will help in every way they can to enable you to meet your career goals.
The majority of the training you will receive in Asidua is “on-the-job”. There are a lot of more experienced employees who are always willing to provide guidance and share their experiences with you. No-one is ever too busy to answer your questions and no question is ever too stupid – believe me I’ve asked my fair share! Training is very important in Asidua. When you join as a Graduate you go through the Graduate Development Programme which teaches you valuable soft skills such as communication and time management.
Asidua provide internal and external training courses in a variety of technologies. They are keen for employees to continually better themselves and learn new technologies. I recently went on an SSIS course and MS Biztalk course. Employees are also encouraged to undertake certifications. I am currently studying for Microsoft Business Intelligence Developer exam. I also plan to do the .NET Certification early next year.
Fun at Asidua
The company has a sports and social club that organises an event every month, for example last month we went to the VIP cinema in the Odyssey to see James Bond. Events range from things like bowling, go-karting, Giant’s match, pool competition etc. We also have First Friday Drinks every month which always promises to be a good night out!
If you’re into football like me – the boys and girls organise 5 – a – side every week and we also enter both a boys and girls team into the BCS 7 –a – side tournament every year. The boys won last year! There is also a Wii and an Xbox in the kitchens of the Belfast offices. It means that we do spend time with each other outside of work and we are all generally a very friendly bunch – it makes for an excellent working atmosphere and environment.
Final Thought
Asidua are a company that thrive on the success and ambition of their employees and they encourage everyone to learn new technologies and are also open to new suggestions and new methods of doing things. Asidua provides an interesting and challenging career in IT. You can be guaranteed that if you come to work for us you will fit in immediately to the diverse but excellent work environment that we have where everyone from the graduates to the directors are approachable at any time. The company strikes an excellent balance between work and social life.
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Niall
I completed an MEng in Electronic and Electrical Engineering at Queens in 2005 before travelling to Australia for a year. On my return I came back to Asidua for full time employment, because having completed my placement with Asidua in 2003/04, I knew Asidua had a great environment to learn and progress my career.
Work in Asidua
The work in Asidua varies greatly. Some of the projects I have worked on involved integrating credit card readers with kiosks that you can see in shopping centres and airports, to working offsite at a customers office designing and developing custom systems. These projects allow me to expand my knowledge and meet new people.
Training at Asidua
Throughout my time in Asidua I have been on many training courses to help with my understanding of a new technology which I will be using on a new project. I also completed the Graduate Training Programme where Asidua put all the graduates up in a hotel for team building and put us through some modules to help with improving our professional development.
Fun at Asidua
Within Asidua we have both an X Box 360 and a Nintendo Wii which employees can use on their breaks. As part of the sports and social committee I have the opportunity to organise monthly events for the company. In the past these have included paint balling, go-karting, bowling, trips to the V.I.P cinema and Christmas 5 aside soccer tournaments to name but a few. We are also currently the holders of the BCS 7 aside outdoor soccer trophy in which we competed against other I.T companies in Belfast.
Final Thought
I have really enjoyed my time working with Asidua. It has provided me the opportunity to meet new people and progress my career in an enjoyable working environment.
Interested in finding out more about Niall’s role, then watch his video below…
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Scholarships @ QUB
The Asidua Scholarship at Queen’s will support at least one student per year on one of the following degree courses:
- BSc, BEng, or MEng Computer Science
- BEng or MEng Electrical and Electronic Engineering.
- MEng/BEng Software and Electronic Systems Engineering
This scholarship is worth up to £25,000 to the successful candidate
Subject to satisfactory exam results aligning with a degree classification of 2:1 or above and performance in class, the scholarship will offer support as follows:
- £1,000 per year for each of the scheduled academic years of the course;
- At least eight weeks paid summer work between each academic year;
- A guaranteed paid industrial placement in year three;
- After completion of industrial placement, the opportunity for paid part-time work during the academic year – typically equating to 1 day per week (subject to course schedules);
- Following an application for a permanent position and subject to success at interview, in accordance with Fair Employment legislation, a permanent position with Asidua after graduation.
The selection process
- Individual must meet the entrance requirements for the degree course and be enrolled for the course and still in active participation at the end of the first semester;
- All applicants must fill out an Asidua Scholarship Application form, and then send completed application form to recruitment@asidua.com;
- Applicants will be shortlisted based on the contents of their application form;
- Those who successfully pass this shortlisting will be invited for a 45 minutes interview;
- Following interview the successful applicant will be notified by Asidua’s HR Department;
- All scholarships awarded will be publicised on Asidua’s web site and will require the individual to take part in an official photograph and awards ceremony.
The benefit of a scholarship
Scholars will become much more rounded individuals during their time with Asidua. They will enhance the skills and theory they have learnt at University with industrial experience. They will get to work with very experienced individuals who mentor them in software engineering best practices, and will gain real world experience of working in teams and increase their confidence and communications skills in so doing. They will also gain a better understanding of what a career in IT is all about.
The work based learning or placement is invaluable for the student, as they will gain excellent industrial experience during their time with Asidua since they will work on real projects within the Company, and this will increase their chance of employment following graduation.
How it works in practice
When a placement student starts they go through Asidua’s standard induction process in order to gain an understanding of our Company Strategy, how we work operationally, and details of the work area they are being assigned to. A placement student is treated in the same way as a new graduate – we assign them a supervisor within their project team, and we assess their learning and development needs based on what skills they have gained at University and how this compares with what we need within their project area. In addition they are assigned a mentor who works closely with the student during their placement year. Our placement students will work on real projects within the Company.
This means that during each placement slot the scholar will further enhance their skill set and will become more valuable members of the team and contribute more towards to the success of the projects they work on.
How to apply
Asidua’s Queen’s University Belfast Scholarship Programme for the 2011/2012 academic year has now closed to applications. Opportunities for first year students in the 2012/2013 academic year will be published during autumn 2012.
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Scholarships @ Ulster
The Asidua Scholarship at University of Ulster will support at least one student per year studying the following degree courses:
- BEng/MEng Electronic Engineering
- BEng Software Engineering
- BSc Honours Computer Science
- BSc Computing Science
- BSc Computing
- BEng Electronics and Computer Systems
- BEng/BEng Hons Electronics & Software
- BEng Computer Games Development courses.
This scholarship is worth up to £25,000 to the successful candidate
Subject to satisfactory exam results aligning with a degree classification of 2:1 or above and performance in class, the scholarship will offer support as follows:
- £1,000 per year for each of the scheduled academic years of the course;
- At least eight weeks paid summer work between each academic year;
- A guaranteed paid industrial placement in year three;
- After completion of industrial placement, the opportunity for paid part-time work during the academic year – typically equating to 1 day per week (subject to course schedules);
- Following an application for a permanent position and subject to success at interview, in accordance with Fair Employment legislation, a permanent position with Asidua after graduation.
The selection process
- Applicants must have been accepted onto one of the eligible courses and be enrolled for the course and still in active participation at the end of the first semester;
- All applicants must fill out an Asidua Scholarship Application form, and then send completed application form to recruitment@asidua.com;
- Applicants will be shortlisted based on the contents of their application form;
- Those who successfully pass this shortlisting will be invited for a 45 minutes interview;
- Following interview the successful applicant will be notified by Asidua’s HR Department;
- All scholarships awarded will be publicised on Asidua’s web site and will require the individual to take part in an official photograph and awards ceremony.
The benefit of a scholarship
Scholars will become much more rounded individuals during their time with Asidua. They will enhance the skills and theory they have learnt at University with industrial experience. They will get to work with very experienced individuals who mentor them in software engineering best practices, and will gain real world experience of working in teams and increase their confidence and communications skills in so doing. They will also gain a better understanding of what a career in IT is all about.
The work based learning or placement is invaluable for the student, as they will gain excellent industrial experience during their time with Asidua since they will work on real projects within the Company, and this will increase their chance of employment following graduation.
How it works in practice
When a placement student starts they go through Asidua’s standard induction process in order to gain an understanding of our Company Strategy, how we work operationally, and details of the work area they are being assigned to. A placement student is treated in the same way as a new graduate – we assign them a supervisor within their project team, and we assess their learning and development needs based on what skills they have gained at University and how this compares with what we need within their project area. In addition they are assigned a mentor who works closely with the student during their placement year. Our placement students will work on real projects within the Company.
This means that during each placement slot the scholar will further enhance their skill set and will become more valuable members of the team and contribute more towards to the success of the projects they work on.
How to apply
Asidua’s University of Ulster Scholarship Programme for the 2011/2012 academic year has now closed to applications. Opportunities for first year students in the 2012/2013 academic year will be published during autumn 2012.
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All Vacancies
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Validation Engineer
Validation Engineers at Asidua act on behalf of our customers to ensure that what we deliver meets the requirements outlined in the project specification and as defined by our stakeholders.
Below you can read more about the skills that are required and the tools used for this role.
The Skills
- Change management
- Communication and building effective working relationships
- Risk management
- Scope management
- Schedule management
The Tools
- Microsoft Sharepoint
- Microsoft Project
- PRINCE2
- SCRUM
Further Information
You will also find useful information in the Our People section. There you will be able to read more about Validation Engineers in Asidua, including their typical day to day roles, working life in Asidua and information on their career path.
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Project Manager
Project Managers in Asidua ensure that everyone works well together, orchestrating a team through the various phases of the project lifecycle to meet the goals defined by project overview and specifications.
Below you can read more about the skills that are required and the tools used for this role.
The Skills
- Change management
- Communication and building effective working relationships
- Risk management
- Scope management
- Schedule management
The Tools
- Microsoft Sharepoint
- Microsoft Project
- PRINCE2
- SCRUM
Further Information
You will also find useful information in the Our People section. There you will be able to read more about Project Managers in Asidua, including their typical day to day roles, working life in Asidua and information on their career path.
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Developer
Developers in Asidua transform the large scale specification into a living and breathing automated process or hardware solution by customising and integrating technology from our partners.
Below you can read more about the skills that are required and the tools used for this role.
The Skills
- Component Design
- Configuration Management
- Pair programming
- Test-driven development
The Tools
- Embedded C/C++
- Microsoft SOA Suite (C#/.NET)
- Oracle SOA Suite (Java/J2EE)
- Subversion, eclipse, Visual Studio, Git
- UML, XML
Further Information
You will also find useful information in the Our People section. There you will be able to read more about Developers in Asidua, including their typical day to day roles, working life in Asidua and information on their career path.
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Roles with Asidua
Within Asidua, there are a wide variety of roles available to our employees. These include Business Analysts, Developers, Validation Engineers and Project Managers.
To help clarify what each role may entail, information is outlined below in relation to what you can typically expect. This gives a flavour of the roles available; but does not cover each one in detail, particularly in relation to both the appropriate skills and tools.
Our people tend to carry out a variety of roles and employees therefore have the opportunity to work across several disciplines before potentially majoring in one specific area, depending on our business need and an individual’s career aspirations.
To find out more about the roles in Asidua, click an image below.
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Business Analyst
Business Analysts in Asidua engage with customers, gather requirements and propose solution architectures, building a vision that is clear enough for everyone to understand.
Below you can read more about the skills that are required and the tools used for this role.
The Skills
- Architectural modelling
- Communication
- Data Entity modelling
- Process modelling
- Use case modelling
The Tools
- Asidua ADI/ETI
- BPMN
- ERM
- UML
Further Information
You will also find useful information in the Our People section. There you will be able to read more about Business Analysts in Asidua, including their typical day to day roles, working life in Asidua and information on their career path.
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Dublin
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Solihull near Birmingham
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Belfast
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Current Vacancies
Within Asidua, we provide challenging and motivating work that will be an asset to your career profile. With the wide variety of roles on offer across wide ranging projects, you will find Asidua a fantastic place to work. We also reward you by enhancing your skill-set with ongoing Continuous Professional Development and with an attractive remuneration package.
Outlined below by location are the current vacancies within Asidua. You will find information on the background of each role, including the job description as well as a detailed person specification and information on how to apply.
If you have a general query, please contact us at recruitment@asidua.com and we will be happy to assist.
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Our Scholarships
Asidua launched its annual Scholarship Programme for Northern Ireland Universities during the 2008/2009 academic year. With effect from the 2011/2012 academic year, Asidua’s Scholarship Programme has been expanded to include Universities in the West Midlands area.
The eligible universities are:
Northern Ireland, in association with Asidua’s Belfast office
West Midlands, in association with Asidua’s Solihull office
This fantastic opportunity enables successful candidates to benefit from Scholarships worth up to £25,000 over the duration of their degree course.
Students will benefit from industrial experience with Asidua’s Belfast or Solihull Office from the end of their first year onwards with paid summer and year out placements being a guaranteed part of the programme. Students also receive bursary funding during each academic year.
The Asidua Scholarship Programme supplements the academic learning from University with real-life business experience, working with ICT Professionals who are more than happy to share their knowledge and understanding with the Asidua Scholars.
In this section you can find out more information on the experiences of our current scholarship students, as well as details on eligible courses within each participating University and how to apply;
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Job Alerts @ Birmingham
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Experienced
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Placement
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Graduate
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Job Alerts @ Dublin
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Experienced
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Job Alerts @ Belfast
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Experienced
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Graduate
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Placement
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Scholarship
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Why Join Asidua
To learn more about what is in it for you in joining our exciting and dynamic company, please read on…
Benefits
- Competitive salary and target driven bonus;
- Generous pension scheme;
- Opportunity to join dynamic project teams, utilising the latest in bleeding edge technologies;
- Excellent career progression prospects;
- Recognised Investor in People (IiP);
- Continuous professional development (CPD) programme;
- Inclusive management culture ;
- Strong CSR ethos;
- Preventative healthcare with annual health checks;
- Excellent holiday entitlement;
- Flexible working ethos;
- Salary sacrifice schemes;
- Sports & social club (Belfast, Birmingham and Dublin);
- Wii and Xbox available to play during breaks and lunches (Belfast);
- On-site car & bicycle parking (Belfast, Birmingham);
- Local to bus and railway stations (Belfast, Birmingham and Dublin);
Learning & Development Ethos
As a recognised Investor in People, Asidua provides challenging and exciting projects for employees, in addition to providing learning and development opportunities in all appropriate areas, from the latest technologies and platforms to how to engage effectively with colleagues and clients. Our Innovation is coupled with genuine people focus which has developed a positive culture where everyone is committed to achieving the highest standards possible for both the company’s expanding client base and internal customers.
This approach led to the award of Investor in People standard, where IiP auditor Eddie Salmon, commented; “Asidua is very much a learning organization where everyone is encouraged to share knowledge and experience to enrich the proactive and open learning environment which is prevalent throughout the company.”
Working in Asidua provides an excellent opportunity for learning about and using a variety of software languages e.g. Java, C# and C++ and the latest state of the art development tools. Asidua appreciate that employees want to be aware and utilize the latest technologies and where possible we will facilitate this knowledge acquisition. Employees may attend learning opportunities such as Knowledge Sharing Events even where this is not directly relevant to current project, as we know that this can result in new approaches and invigorated working.
We are always happy to chat to employees about their career development aspirations and do all we can to facilitate career progression opportunities. Within Asidua our aim is to recruit and retain high calibre, motivated individuals. Asidua thrives because of the success and drive of our employees and we encourage everyone to develop the skills necessary to deliver a high-class performance – whether this is learning about new technologies or about communication skills. As an innovative organisation, we welcome suggestions and new methods of doing things as demonstrated by our ever developing and expanding internal school environment.
In Asidua, our Continuous Professional Development (CPD) programme identifies, manages and develops our employees skills so each member of the team is empowered to exceed the expectations of our clients.
Flexible Working
In addition to our Investor in People status, Asidua is also an accredited Employer of Choice, which demonstrates our commitment to actively encouraging work-life balance for employees through a series of innovative policies. Within Asidua, we prioritise the welfare and well-being of our employees and recognise that it is through having effective working practices that our employees are enabled to perform. Our practices include having;
- Forward thinking policies and procedures
- The Asidua Communication for Employees Working Group (ACE)
- Flexible daily working hours (start, finish and lunch times) for everyone
- Flexible working patterns
- Salary Sacrifice Schemes for Childcare Vouchers and Bicycle Purchase
- Generous annual leave entitlement
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Our People
By having a look at this section, you will be able to learn about our people and their experiences in Asidua.
Each profile outlines the decisions our team members have made that brought them to their current exciting and stimulating role with us. These profiles will also give you an insight into a day in the life of different employee roles.
Make sure you have a look at Niall's profile which includes an IT Sector video, in which he talks about his experiences to date within Asidua.
Please check back regularly for more team profiles.
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Careers @ Asidua
Asidua employs over 120 professionals and continues to expand: most employees are located at the company's corporate headquarters in Belfast; with other Asidua offices in Solihull near Birmingham and in Dublin.
In the Asidua careers section, as well as viewing our current vacancies and finding out how to apply, you can also find out more about working life in Asidua, including the type of roles available. You can also visit "Our People" which will give a flavour on what life in Asidua is like from our employees perspective.
We also have information about our Scholarship Programme, where students intending to enter into academic studies at Queen's University of Belfast or the University of Ulster, can find out more information.
To begin your journey with Asidua, please click an area of interest below.
