Making The Transition Part 2
The lovely Dionne (who I met a few months back at WHFNP) read my post about my career change and had 10 questions for me. Rather than simply answering her she suggested I answer her questions in a blog post for the world to see. This is going to be a long post so you may want to make a cup of tea and grab some biscuits first.
How long were you working in TV?
I started at the BBC in 2008 as a Screening Co-ordinator, which a glamorous way of saying I made DVD screeners of all the BBC catalogue and sent them out to potential distributors around the globe. In 2009 my contract came to an end and in a panic I applied for an Assistant Presentation Scheduler role not having a clue what the job was. The Presentation team was split into two, one team looked after the BBC channels and the other half looked after UKTV channels. After 18 months I was promoted to Presentation Scheduler, eventually becoming the team’s tech support and Deputy team leader. In total I worked in TV for 7 years.
How easy was it to get on a MSc course?
To do my MSc I had to have a BSc in a Computer Science related subject, submit an essay of why I wanted to do the course and then fill in a form. As simple as that.
Why that particular course?
I wanted to continue working full time as I was saving for a mortgage deposit at the same time so the course I chose had to be part time and in the evening. Started looking into part time Computer Science related course and found out the University of Westminster did an evening Software Engineering Masters. I compared the MSc Computer Science and MSc Software Engineering courses and the only two differences seemed to be that Software Engineering offered a part time course with an emphasis on software efficiency and algorithms. Being the nutjob I am I thought why take the easy road when I can study algorithms and use that brain of mine.
How did you fund the course fees?
I was already saving for a mortgage deposit so fortunately I had some money stashed. I continued working full time to help fund the course. This also meant retakes were not an option because I was not paying to redo anything.
What was it like studying part-time and holding down a full time job?
It was an adjustment. I knew that it meant no social life for two years and I was fine with that. I initially thought I’d go two evenings a week 6pm-10pm, then spend my Sundays doing work and that would be it. Well I was wrong. On days I had lectures I had to prepare for them the night before, and also prep lunch AND dinner to bring to work so I could eat before attending. So on days I went to uni I would leave home at 7:45am and get home around 11pm, then go to bed around 1am after prepping for the next day. Like I said it was an adjustment and I had no choice but to be organised.
How long did it take you to get new job in a new industry after graduation?
I got my new job end of April 2015 (didn’t start until August 2015 as I had a 3 month notice period). I finished my MSc in September 2014, graduating November 2014. I spent October 2014 in Educador and Peru traveling, and came back even more exhausted than when I left. A lot was going on at work during September - December 2014 as my team was in the process of being tuped and I was the Deputy Team Leader so I didn’t start looking until January 2015. I was fortunate as it only took me 4 months.
How did you go about the job hunt?
At the beginning of my job hunt I made the decision that I wanted to stay in an industry similar to TV, i.e. relaxed and informal. I don’t do well in corporate environments. This meant I was applying for roles in more of the Creative Industries so I targeted more creative companies.
What was the interview process like?
For every role I went for the process was the same:
- Informal phone interview
- Technical task
- Face to Face interview
It’s important to remember this, just because we write code doesn’t mean we are computers. We’re human, personable and can have conversations. Remind your interviewer of that!
How did you make yourself stand out from the crowd?
My CV is awful and so is my LinkedIn profile, but they do show that I am a multi-faceted person. Yes, I can write code, but I can do other things as well. My current boss noticed that about my CV.
What does your new role involve, how is it keeping your mind from rotting again?
At the moment I’m doing Front-End on a game. I get to make a game! I’d never learnt JavaScript before so this is a good learning opportunity. I’m actively encouraged to learn new technologies and contribute to open source projects. On Thursday I even reported an iOS 9 Chrome bug to Google who then passed it onto Apple. I know it sounds ridiculous but without my team’s encouragement I would’ve been too shy to do that.
When I can I help the QAs so that I can be develop a QA mindset so I can be a more efficient Engineer. On Fridays I work on a separate project with some other newbies and I’m their Scrum Master so that is a whole new learning curve.
Hope that helped Dionne