
In her final year of a Bachelor of Information Technology, Ethel Beckett snapped up an industry placement at a media-tech startup, Cinefly, which soon led to full-time employment with the company.
Ethel said she wanted to undertake the industry placement to gain experience and insights about what to expect in the IT industry.
During her placement she created an online software as a service solution for Cinefly.
“My tasks involved re-designing and prototyping the landing pages and the portal, front-end development and working with the back-end development team using cutting-edge technologies,” she said.
Ethel said her placement allowed her to learn and develop front-end development skills and prepared her for the industry.
“I enjoyed being involved in business-related projects that gave me the opportunity to use the skills I developed throughout my degree, meet new people in the industry, and obtain resources to help me develop my IT career.”
“The placement also made me realise that in today’s IT industry, soft skills are equally important as the technical skills.”
“The placement allowed me to use the hard and soft skills I learned during my time at Uni and continuously develop those skills through the internship program with the guidance and mentorship of Cinefly CEO Kai Eris.”
Kai said the company loved taking on interns as it was equally beneficial to the company.
“We love placing students at Cinefly because they have no limits, which is really important for a startup working on cutting edge technologies that haven’t yet been released to market.”
“Ethel greatly exceeded all our expectations by putting in the hard work early on to build her understanding of the platform and develop her skills, making worthwhile contributions to the project.
“She also has a natural talent for design and a great mind for problem solving so we did not hesitate in offering her full-time work at Cinefly. We’ve got some more amazing projects coming up and it’s really exciting to have Ethel on the team and part of the adventure!”
“I also think it’s really important for a student early in their career to have the opportunity to work in a startup to gain greater exposure to various facets of a business. Startups are not easy. The work is fast-paced, the learning curve steep, but what students learn in three months can be equivalent to a 12 months’ work in other organisations. It’s a great rite of passage to have before venturing into full-time work.”