My Industry Work Placement at Yozu – Rory Murray

As part of our enterprise support for the University of Liverpool Maths School, we recently welcomed student Rory Murray to Yozu for a week’s work placement!

Rory kindly put together a diary of his week’s activities to provide some insight for students on how to get the maximum value from these experiences – and he certainly made the most of it!

Over to Rory…

Intro

I recently had the fantastic opportunity to spend a week at Yozu on a work placement – and honestly, it was one of the best learning experiences I’ve had. From software development and product thinking to design and business strategy, I got to see how a tech company works behind the scenes.

Monday – Getting Started

I was met by Daz Jones (a Mid-Level Software Engineer), who showed me around and helped me settle in. I became familiar with the tools the team uses, including Slack, Docker, Ruby, and the basics of Rails.

I also jumped on a call with Joe Hibbert, the Programme Manager. He explained how projects at Yozu go from the discovery phase through to delivery. It was cool to see how all the pieces fit together.

Later, I was introduced to Ruby on Rails through the Getting Started guide. Given this was my first time using Ruby, I was surprised by how fast things began to come together.

Tuesday – Business and Product Insights

After starting the day with a team stand-up, I had several interesting meetings. First up was Kirsty Cashen (Head of Business Support), who gave me an excellent overview of how Yozu operates as a business and what career progression can look like here.

Then I met Berend Van Beijnen (Product Owner), who walked me through his role, how he makes product decisions, and the tools he uses to manage tasks. Also, we were joined by Daz and Ste to discuss a challenging algorithm from a current project.

We explored different solutions, which helped me understand how developers approach real-world problems. I took the opportunity to mention potential simulations and introduce the team to Voronoi diagrams—a valuable method for modelling coverage.

Wednesday – Design Tips & Dev Deep Dives

Wednesday was all about design and development. I had an excellent design session with Kasia Pikula (Design Lead). She provided me with valuable feedback on my websites, Figma mockups, and portfolio.

Kasia also shared numerous great tools and resources, including Stark (for accessibility), Unsplash, Coolors, and design inspiration from agencies such as Bold Scandinavia and DixonBaxi.

Later, I had some brilliant conversations with Dan Shaw and Ry Anderson, (both Senior Developers). Dan introduced me to JavaScript testing and Playwright, while Ry and I exchanged ideas about Raspberry Pi projects and their final-year university work.

They also introduced me to their current projects at Yozu. I walked away feeling inspired by those projects.

Thursday – Big Picture Thinking

Thursday was packed! I started the Yozu Junior Developer taster challenge and had professional headshots taken by Antonino Dado (Senior Designer).

Then I met with Paul Davies (COO), who is also our Enterprise Advisor at the maths school. He gave me an honest, behind-the-scenes insight into how Yozu operates, including aspects such as managing profit and loss and pricing strategies, which was eye-opening.

I also had a great session with Jonathan Saunders (Director), where we discussed company valuations, share options, and how a board of directors works. Definitely not something you learn in school!

Later on, I caught up with Luke Morgan (Founder/CEO), who gave me some great career advice, and met with Kirsty again to talk about salary ranges, finance tools, and what to look for when hiring.

To finish off the day, I caught up again with Berend, who introduced me to some additional aspects of his custom decision-making philosophies and the tools he uses to inform them.

He also shared some helpful product resources for pursuing a career in product ownership, including The Product Compass and Aakash Gupta’s newsletter and podcast.

Friday – Wrapping Things Up

On the final day, I completed the taster challenge and had a deep dive into brand identity with Antonino. We discussed Yozu’s rebranding, editing tools such as Photoshop and Inkscape, and how to prepare images for the web. I also got some great design advice and resource suggestions.

To wrap up the week, I had a code review and debrief with Daz, who gave me feedback and suggestions for moving forward.

He even invited me to attend a future MerseyRails meetup (a developer event organised by Yozu once a month) – which I’m definitely planning to do!

Final Thoughts

I packed so much into just one week at Yozu. The entire team was welcoming, knowledgeable, and seemed genuinely excited to share their knowledge and expertise.

I got to see how a full digital agency works across development, design, product, and business, while also learning the basics of Rails.

But really, my favourite part was having the opportunity to talk to countless people across every type of role in a tech company. The conversations helped me to shape my plans for the future, and I could almost write a book on the information I extracted.

Big thanks to everyone at Yozu for such a great week. I’m walking away inspired, motivated, and with a much greater sense of direction. Hopefully I’ll be back one day – maybe even as a full-time team member!

Advice for Work Experience Students

The best advice I could give to somebody looking to do a work placement, especially at a tech company, is: Take initiative, ask.

Of course, ask questions, but also ask for opportunities. I can’t emphasise this enough. Countless opportunities are missed from simply not asking; you would be surprised by how many people say yes. 

If I hadn’t asked questions during my work placement, I wouldn’t have gained anywhere near as much from this week, or even secured the placement in the first place.

If anyone wanting to undertake a work placement has questions or would like to learn more about me (and see the amazing headshot Antonino took), shoot me a message on LinkedIn: