u/Gbygterkerzzz

I’ve just finished first year of a Computer Science degree in the UK and I want to use May–September to improve my chances of getting a summer internship or placement year role next year.

My current situation:
- First-year CS student
- Interested in cyber security, but also considering SWE first then pivoting
- No major side projects outside university yet
- Some experience with Java, PHP, SQL, HTML/CSS/JS from coursework
- Planning to build projects and start applying from September

My questions:

1. For cyber/security placements in the UK, what should I prioritise this summer?
2. Should I focus more on cyber labs/certs, projects, or general SWE projects?
3. Would applying to SWE/IT/cloud placements first be a better strategy than only cyber roles?
4. What projects would make me look credible by September?

Any advice from people who got placements/internships would be appreciated.