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Many undergraduate and masters degree programmes provide the opportunity for students to undertake a paid work placement with an employer. As well as being something that is great for your CV, a placement can help improve your employability and give you great ‘real world’ experience. It can even help improve your degree classification afterwards!
But why would you consider a healthtech placement? We asked some of the placement students and recent graduates at software company Mayden for their insights...
Aurelia Cretu - Software Developer at Mayden (3rd year BSc Computer Science, University of Bath)
“Mental health has been a very important part of my life for quite a while now, so when the opportunity came up to use my technical skills to simplify a clinician’s job and improve a patient’s journey, I had to take it. Mayden’s main product, iaptus, is a system that allows therapists to manage patients’ records and their treatments. It was developed as a solution to the IAPT initiative to improve access to psychological therapies.
My placement as a software developer mostly involves building and improving features for iaptus, problem solving and trying to understand how therapists interact with the system and how we can best deliver what they need. Often, we have to put ourselves in their shoes and look at iaptus from a different perspective, because it’s easy, as a developer, to make assumptions about how our product is being used, or how it should be used, without looking at the broader picture. We also deal with support tasks that come directly from clients which brings us much closer to them and helps us empathise with their day-to-day challenges.
Speaking from my experience so far, a career in health tech is very rewarding. You can easily identify the benefit and value you’re bringing and the people you’re helping, unlike other tech careers where the work might be more detached from its stakeholders. It also helps you develop a broad range of both soft and technical skills and apply them to a very real and concrete context.”
Hester Gent - Software Developer at Mayden (4th year BSc Computer Science, University of Bath)
“Like Aurelia, I also work at Mayden in an iaptus development team. I chose to work at Mayden because I am interested in working in the healthcare sector where my work has a real and beneficial impact on people’s lives.
When working day to day, I work with my team to maintain and to improve iaptus. This could involve anything from implementing a feature that allows users to view other patient record systems from iaptus to improve their workflow, to fixing issues that users have come across.
I really enjoy working at Mayden, not only because of the value that our work brings, but also because we have an amazing company culture. The environment at Mayden is very encouraging and there is lots of emphasis on personal development and training.”
Ash Small - Software Developer at Mayden (MSc Human Computer Interaction 2020, Graduate University of Bath)
“During secondary school, I attended a talk about healthcare tech and how technology can change someone's life. After that talk I knew that healthcare technology was something that I wanted to pursue so that I could make a difference in someone's life.
So throughout university, I took every opportunity to explore the benefits of technology in healthcare, from attending courses to see how smart houses can help those with a disability to eventually undertaking a masters degree in Human Computer Interaction. My masters allowed me to better understand the connection between people and technology and how technology can be designed and developed with its users at the forefront.
During my masters I found a placement opportunity at Mayden, which I knew I had to take! I spent a year developing software for iaptus. The culture at Mayden provides a creative space to develop software, while promoting personal development and continuous learning. Day to day I work collaboratively with my team on various tasks from implementing new features or maintaining iaptus to addressing user support logs. At Mayden it is really easy to connect the work you are doing with the end user and see the impact it has.
Although my primary role is a developer, I am also involved in working groups such as User Experience (UX). This gives me the opportunity to use my knowledge and to explore what more can be done to improve the UX of iaptus for our users while raising awareness of why UX is important for everyone.
After my placement I returned to Mayden as a software developer and have continued to work on projects which help therapists and patients alike. A career in healthtech is really rewarding, as you can see the impact you are having on the end users.”
At Mayden, we strongly believe in sharing our passion for learning and innovation and are delighted to offer placement experiences to our students. As a growing software company we’re building the kind of company we want to work for. For us, that means an agile, open working culture, a flat structure and shared responsibility for our success. With that in mind, our placement students are considered a vital part of the team from day one, both in terms of their individual development scrum teams and the wider company.
For more information about student placements at Mayden contact Suzanne Baker suzanne.baker@mayden.co.uk.