The British Computer Society (BCS) provides a wealth of information and advice about careers progression in IT.

Some other useful online careers sites include:

• Inside Careers
• TARGETjobs
• IT jobs for graduates
• Banking Science

All of these sites provide careers advice, advertise jobs and produce dedicated booklets providing information about companies, recent graduates and how to find the right job. These booklets also provide tips on writing effective CVs, covering letters, application forms; and also presenting yourself well at interviews and doing pychometric tests.

The BCS provides the UK government backed "Skills Framework for the Information Age (SFIA) ". This described the different roles within the IT industry and the required skills for each role. You can browse the SFIA roles/skills matrix to see what industrial roles exist and what skills you require for each.

Reading graduate profiles is often the best way of establishing whether a particular type of job would be good for you. The key careers sites and booklets described above often have graduate profiles which describe 'a typical work day' for a person working particular roles within different companies. The BCS also provides online job profiles written by actual employees so that people can gain insight into what particular jobs are like.

A business wanting to employ you for more than a month should prepare a written employment contract which both parties should sign. This should lay out conditions of employment, working hours, project requirements, salary, etc. It is at your own risk if you agree to a 'word of mouth' contract - such contracts are not legally binding (even if accompanied by a friendly handshake!).

The starting salary that a company offers you depends on many factors including your performance at interview, prior experience and degree class. It also depends on where the company is located and what it does. Salaries in London and the South East are generally higher than the rest of the UK. Also salaries within the financial computing industry tend to be higher than general software engineering positions.

Statistics about recent UK salaries is provided by www.jobstats.co.uk.

If you are wanting to start your own business in the UK then it is worth talking to UCL Advances and also looking at the UK Government help pages for setting up a business.

Example templates for contracts of employment, job descriptions and many others can be found here.

Be aware that getting involved with start-up businesses can be both exciting and risky.  Financial remuneration may be minimal in the early stages of the business. 

If you are not an EU national you will need a work permit to work in the UK. The UK Borders Agency deals with the regulations relating to working in the UK and it runs a number of different schemes and programmes. Two particularly relevant schemes are: The Higher Skilled Workers Scheme and The Post Study Workers Scheme.

Also note the 'Tier 4 policy guidance' on working in the UK on a student visa - which permits Summer Internships amongst other types of work.

The Prospects web site has further useful information for international students.

The College can offer a few small grants from the Yusuf Ali Fund to assist students of the College whose homes are in India, Pakistan or Bangladesh to travel in Great Britain and Western Europe during the Summer Vacation.

There are also a number of other UCL Scholarships, Prizes, Loans & Bursaries available for overseas students.

Due to the recent 'credit crunch', the idea of 'offshoring' (outsourcing software development to overseas) has sparked concern. The current 'credit crunch' will affect all graduate recruitment as employers try to optimize their profits. But companies will generally cut back on non-essential roles rather than IT roles that are often critical within industry. A recent publication from the BCS finds that IT staff saw their pay rise at above inflation rates even with the current gloomy economy of the last 12 months ("IT and computer staff pay defies economic downturn", BCS). Offshoring is having an effect on graduate employment but companies are unlikely to outsource the development of cutting-edge technologies, often the most interesting and well paid, and those involving security and defence.

You may be considering going on to further study, in which case UCL-CS admissions pages contains information about MSc & postgraduate courses.

The following links might be useful:

• FindAMasters.com (listings of Masters programmes UK-wide)
• UCL's Graduate Prospectus