Summer internship lands job for Ballymena NRC student

Amy Chan (18) who is studying IT at the College’s Ballymena campus is in the second year of a Level 3 Diploma IT. She completed her placement with Portglenone company Plotbox, which recently relocated to the Ecos Centre in Ballymena.

Amy, along with fellow Ballymena campus student Joshua Jackson from Ballymoney, secured an internship through the Career Ready Programme, an initiative delivered by the College in partnership with local employers and designed to prepare young people for the world of work, it includes paid summer placements and one-to-one business mentoring.

Award winning Co Antrim company, Plotbox created a modern solution to the age old problem of mapping cemeteries by using drones to create more accurate maps and bespoke software to collate the new information and migrate data from existing systems. The company’s innovative and creative use of new technology has allowed the company to expand rapidly.

Having completed her six week paid internship with Plotbox, Amy was invited to stay on two days a week and she is able to fit this around her classes at College.

Stephen Hardy, Chief Technical Officer at Plotbox said Amy was an ideal example of how the Career Ready programme can be a ‘win win’ for students and companies.

He said: “Amy is very capable and helps with collating the databases and testing new software.”