Marili Vosmi

Country of origin: Estonia

Placement: Phantasmagora London Ltd

Undertaking a placement year presented a great opportunity to get a perspective of which field I want to get into after graduation. What is more it would hopefully provide an advantage when applying for a job after graduation. It was also a good opportunity to get a better idea about which subjects I would like to focus on during my final year.

I worked at an online gaming start-up which specialised in making people’s dreams come true via crowd funding. We had 12 product lines and I was in charge of the ‘Travel & Adventure’, ‘Arts & Culture’, ‘Education & Careers’ and ‘Community projects’ product lines. Working at a start-up really was a hands on experience as the interns were involved in a variety of tasks from decorating the office to participating in meetings with our partners. Therefore it was a great all-around experience.

It was a great experience that enabled me to put the theory I had learned at university into practise. As I had an opportunity to try out different things it gave me an idea about what I would like to do in the future. It created a great starting point for beginning to work on my dissertation in terms of ideas as well as research.

I liked that as the start-up was just about to launch their idea when I joined so I was able to see the setting up of a business from the very start, which was an extremely valuable experience. We had a small and friendly team and everyone was encouraged to share their ideas which definitely made it a good environment to be working in. I really enjoyed working in a start-up and that in itself was definitely a valuable experience.

During my last year of university I will keep working for the company on a part time basis. I will also be doing a study abroad term in Bangkok, Thailand. I think my placement experience will help with my final year of university mainly as it has helped me to become more organised.  I have chosen the modules I want to study in my final year based on the interests developed and discovered during my placement. When it comes to plans after completing my degree the only certain thing is that I want to enter the working world and gain more hands on experience.

As I would like to start my own business one day this was an amazing opportunity to gain a first-hand experience of how to set up a business in the real life with all its highlights and obstacles.