Student work experience and placements - When is time money?

I have to agree with what Sam said, I have worked with a couple of placement students in a forensic role and I was a placement student once, in an IT helpdesk role and I think the most valuable lessons you learn from the experience are not just technical but encompass how an office functions on a day to day basis, dealing with clients, colleagues, admin, punctuality and the general pressures of a workplace. For some students this can be a surprisingly hard lesson to learn but it makes it all the more valuable in the end.

I think it was those aspects that gave me a headstart when finding my first graduate role over the people who'd only had a saturday job flipping burgers.

Yes working in a CF job or any job is not fun and games all the time, responsibility for the more mundane tasks must be shared.

So don't scoff at a placement opportunity just because you don't think it's exactly what you want to be doing when you graduate, instead welcome the opportunity to learn many things and surprise surprise you might actually have a very decent job at the end of it all!

I have recently graduated and was unable to find a placement opportunity. But I really think that too many CF students will only look for CF specific roles, which I think is a great mistake.

I almost got a role as a web developer but they couldn't afford to take me, for example, and I feel that a lot of my general computing knowledge I have picked up through various roles is just as valuable than a CF placement and getting this placement would have helped me too.

I found this article really interesting having just finished an MSc in Forensic Computing and Security. While i have 15 months experience working on an IT helpdesk (as part of my undergraduate placement which was by far the most valuable part of my degree) i dont have any digital forensic experience.

I am currently trying to get into forensics but it is not easy especially with the current economic situaition. I agree with DrDebonair that it is a great mistake to just look for computer forensic roles, some IT experience is better than nothing at all even if it isn't specifically in forensics.

I personally believe that everyone who has the opportunity should take a placement as i learned a lot more during my placement than my 4 years (including my MSc) sat in a lecture theatre. I may have had poor pay during my placement but the things i learnt were worth the low pay.

I agree kiashi, I think for most students the process of getting used to working life is difficult and can come as quite a shock to some of them.

I also think one of the main issues with placements may come from the universities themselves. They often have an expectation of what the placement should offer (and the wage) which in the current climate probably are not all that realistic considering placements are part of a graduates training. This in some respects can restrict where the students may be able to work.

DrDebonair, most definitely any IT experience would help a CF graduate. Any work within the IT areas is going to increase their knowledge and also assist them in learning more about working within a business. As kiashi stated, gaining IT experience may set one graduate apart from another and in my experience it is often the practical IT knowledge that CF graduates lack, hence, such placements would be very valuable.

Kind regards

Sam Raincock

Thanks for your comments jammie_b

I am glad to see your IT placements have worked out well for you. Unfortunately, I think a lot of students perhaps do not realise how much benefit it can provide them (part of the reason for the article). It is interesting that you feel you learned a lot more from your placement than your lectures especially since students have to pay for their university studies and actually get paid, all be it perhaps a small amount, for their placements.

In my experience, those with strong computing backgrounds can make the transition into CF fairly easily. However, those with only CF knowledge are not going to necessarily have all of the technical knowledge and skills they would require. For example, in a CF case I may need to examine the content of an HTML page and understand what the script means or I may need to understand how a computer would connect and interact with a server so that I know what evidence would be found on each. CF definitely needs broad IT knowledge.

Kind regards

Sam Raincock

I may be knocked down for this, but I believe being a software tester fresh out of uni gave me basics of forensics. I believe the best two jobs to get grads into forensics, would first be to get jobs in software testing, and then move to data recovery after a year. You can then show experience in investigation (software testing), and data recovery.

Worked for me 😉

research1

Absolutely, software testing experience is a great background to have. You quickly learn when testing software you have to assume nothing and test everything. This is exactly the mindset that is required for CF for both the investigations and the use of tools.

A software tester/developer knows to not assume software works or does things as you think it would (how many software developers would get on a plane with an autopilot coded by them? 😉 ). This also means that they understand that it is essential to determine what and how a tool works and test that it actually does what it states on the tin.

I sometimes work in cases involving determine how software would produce certain logs or determining the possibilities of how certain functions could be carried out. These are generally my favourite cases - and one thing's for certain - software often doesn't work the way you think it does/should )

Kind regards

Sam Raincock

I was fortunate enough to get a four month internship with the CF person for a local law enforcement agency. Not only was it unpaid, I had to pay the university to get credit for it. Then there were the costs of meals, transportation/parking, and other sundries. And I knew going into it that at the end there would be no chance of him hiring me, regardless of how well I performed. In fact, it would have been much easier, less time consuming, and certainly less expensive had I opted for the capstone class credit instead.

However, it was one of the most valuable experiences I have ever had and I am convinced it is a major reason I was able to secure my current CF position. I absolutely recommend students try to get experience, even if volunteer/unpaid. If CF is truly one's passion, one needs to act like it and exceed the typical expectations. I would add that this includes things beyond getting work experience; things like self-study, interest groups, and available free or low cost training - things outside of the required coursework.

I've read posts where people (students) intern at police departments, image things and help out.

100-1 money says that none of the cases where students worked on a case imaging or anything of relevance had an expert on the other side. If you take a second and step back I'm sure you can see how if you were on the other side with 20 years experience and hired by Acme to win a case based on CF evidence, you would go after imaging, experience of the other examiner, etc.

We get calls for interns and just have to say it's not going to happen, the liability alone from a single client, let alone the word of mouth (even if they do nothing wrong) can shut down a business.

Sometimes, on cases which are closed (criminal cases) where the Def consents you are able to go over that drive, let someone image it, restore it, and poke around on it, but only after getting written consent as well as a HH.