Placement Prep
Your T Level includes at least 315 hours of industry placement with an employer. Your portfolio site is one of the best tools you have for getting one.
For anything specific to your own placement (dates, paperwork, who your employer contact is), speak to your placement coordinator.
- Evidence you can do the work: real projects on your portfolio, not just a list of skills.
- Willingness to learn: nobody expects you to know everything. Show you can figure things out.
- Reliability: turning up on time, meeting deadlines, letting people know if there's a problem.
- Communication: explaining what you've done clearly, asking questions when you're stuck.
- Teamwork: working well with others and taking feedback on board.
- An About page with a short, professional introduction.
- Your best 3 to 5 projects, each with a screenshot, what you built, the tools you used and what you learned.
- A way to contact you (a professional email address, not your gaming one).
- Everything working: no broken links, missing images or placeholder text.
- Run through the submission checklist before you send the link to anyone.
In an interview you may be asked to walk through a project. Practise answering these out loud:
- What was the project for, and who was it for?
- How did you plan it? (Wireframes, sketches, requirements)
- What was the hardest part, and how did you solve it?
- What would you improve if you did it again?
- How did you test it?
The STAR method helps structure answers:
| Situation | Set the scene. What was the project? |
| Task | What did you need to do? |
| Action | What did you actually do? |
| Result | What was the outcome, and what did you learn? |
- Log your hours as you go, not at the end. Record the date, hours worked and what you did.
- Keep notes on the skills you're using and the projects you're involved in. They make great portfolio content later (check with your employer what you're allowed to share).
- Ask for feedback regularly, and write it down.
- Follow your employer's rules on confidentiality and data. Don't post anything about their systems or clients without permission.
- If something's wrong, tell someone early: your supervisor, or your placement coordinator at college.