“The unit did also aim to push individuals out of their comfort zone and I do feel that I have improved from being an introvert at the start of the unit to being more extroverted. I am now comfortable working with individuals from different cultural backgrounds, presenting to project stakeholders and presenting to potential sponsors. These activities have encouraged me to change and will not just help me in my daily life but also in my professional career. I am proud to see how far we have come, both individually and as well as a team. I have so much confidence now. I can tackle anything.”
Program Graduate, 2017
Student Quotes
These student quotes are from many documented exit interviews that we hold with each student at the end of the program, from their weekly reflective diary blogs, from their video learning journeys with their teams and from emails.
” Participating in the FIT5120 Industry Experience Course gave me an opportunity to work on an AI project that I was passionate about, and one that tested my skills. With the constant support and feedback from industry, academic and tech mentors, they helped me shape my AI skills towards developing a real world product that benefits users. It was also a good opportunity to develop teamwork and communication skills, and work with people from different IT faculties, and see how my discipline fits into a unified workflow for an IT project.”
Program graduate, 2024
“In the past units, datasets were provided to me as part of the assignments, however in FIT5120 it was my first time where I had to search for datasets for a real problem and apply all my previous knowledge to make an impact on the community. This was a refreshing learning experience.”
Program graduate, 2024
“Through my Industry Experience, I learned to combine data science knowledge from my master’s program with agile methodologies and gained valuable insights into collaborating with an IT team. This rewarding journey enriched my practical skills and understanding of real world software applications. “
Program graduate, 2024
“As a recipient of the prestigious Cliff Bellamy award, I’m honoured to share how our Industry Experience prepared me for my current position as a Data Officer. The project provided invaluable hands-on experience, allowing our team to apply theoretical knowledge to real-world challenges. The experience was full of highlights for our team, taking with companies interested in acquiring it, presenting at Techfest and winning the Cliff Bellamy award capped it off well. The practical skills and insights we gain have directly contributed to my success in my current role. “
Program graduate, 2023
“My experience with the Industry Experience unit at Monash University has been pivotal,iIt provided me with practical insights that assisted me in my current role and enhanced my ability to navigate the intricacies of the workforce. The unit highlights the value of teamwork, enhancing my collaboration skills and enabling effective communication in a group setting. I also had opportunities to take initiative or leadership roles throughout the course of the project while collaborating with individuals from different disciplines, which helped sharpen my adaptability and communication skills. The Industry Experience unit boosted my confidence in securing a software engineering role in my current company, Telstra Health”
Program graduate, 2022
“Looking back to the IE project I did 2 years ago, it is actually an invaluable experience for students to gain pre-workplace project experience, build and demonstrate teamwork skills, learn scrum management tools and understand the software development lifecycle. All the things I’ve learned have either helped me to land a job before graduation or accelerated my first job onboarding process. “
Program graduate, 2019
“The IE course for me was an unequaled experience in my Master’s journey. One of the biggest advantages of this unit is the degree to which the teams are encouraged to work as independently as possible and explore the real-life data to make any observations and inferences. This unit has proven essential to the entire course as it prepares you for the corporate environment. “
Program graduate, 2018
“I realized that the journey is almost over. I realized that after a week, we wont have any group meetings, no product that we will be working on. And I miss it already. The joy of having our own product, working on an idea as a team, learning from each other, being guided by wonderful mentors and correcting us throughout. Everything is coming to an end. As they say average people discuss about people and the superior ones about the ideas. This unit literally dragged us to be superior and made us discuss about an idea. Now we cannot afford to go back to the lower category of discussing about people, blaming team members, or doing what others say us to do blindly. All in all, this experience helped us to ruminate every tasks we perform, enhance our team working skills, and become prepared for a professional journey in the near future.”
Program graduate, 2018
“One of most important factors was the team work. We were all from different backgrounds, culturally and different degrees and we learned how to communicate with each other. The best semester I have had.”
Program graduate, 2018
“My own personal weak spot because of my own character, I tend to ignore working in teams. I have learnt a lot during this semester, about communication, about handling disagreements and about respect. I think this unit is great, will improve my career and my job prospects.”
Program graduate, 2018
“I have so much confidence now I can tackle anything. I know I can do more than is expected of me, I know that I can think creatively and innovatively and this will be a positive influence in me getting a job with a future employer. “
Program graduate, 2018
Award Nominations
The Postgraduate IE program received over 46 nominations for Programs that Enhance Learning award, and the staff involved in the delivery of the program received over 100 nominations for Teaching Excellence Awards.
Student Teams at Work
Selection of ePortfolios
Used for communication with Industry mentors:
Selection of Learning Journey Videos
Duration : Approx 10 Mins each
“It was a wonderful experience where we were put into a fast paced learning environment, completely agile. We were forced to learn lots of new things including many soft skills and at times we struggled but the end result is just amazing. And what we gained from it was far more than we expected and worth the struggles.”
Program graduate, 2018
“I am more confident to develop a project because I know how an application is developed from the very beginning, all the way through. It is a very different subject. It doesn’t teach you particular things but is more of an experience of the development, we learnt through the doing.”
Program graduate, 2018
“Actually I really enjoyed the semester. It is the most valuable unit I have taken. Not only did we experience authentic work and communicate with senior IT professionals but also developed the soft skills that we know (now) that we need.”
Program graduate, 2018
“It has been such an exciting rollercoaster journey of my life that it is impossible to delete this memory in the whole of my life. We not only studied together but had fun, learnt important social and professional values which will definitely help us in the professional world in which we are shortly going to enter.”
Program graduate, 2018
“No matter what grades I achieve in this unit, it was the best unit I had during my masters with unfathomable learning and life lessons.”
Program graduate, 2017
“I enjoyed IE project this semester, a very special experience for me. I have never had work experience before and now I am about to graduate, and we are going to find job so it will be real. This provides us with many working skills. Thanks for wonderful experience, most important part of Monash I have been through.”
Program graduate, 2017
“Yes, I have a job with REECE! This unit has equipped me so much and through it I now have a job. I will be part of the Australian IT workforce.Since the beginning of the project, my aim was to intentionally put myself in toughest challenging times as I could, I believe that through experience individual learns the most. Whether they were features in application or handling teams, I gave my 110% (not worrying about marks), just to learn the most out of it. Technically, not everyone was a winner at the expo but I consider myself as a winner as I have achieved a lot during this 12 weeks of time.”
Program graduate, 2017
“What I learnt from this unit was for a successful project learning experience, it is essential for you to have not only a positive ‘I can’ attitude, but also the ‘I enjoy’ feeling. Only then will you want to undertake new projects and to solve new problems; and without realizing it, you will voluntarily continue to learn throughout a lifetime.”
Program graduate, 2017