How did I end up studying at Makers?

Week 1 — How did I end up studying at Makers?

Wow where to begin, for someone who’s only 25 life till now has been a hell of a roller coaster.

I started my journey way back in 2011 attending a foundation course at UCA Epsom. It didn’t take long to realize this wasn’t the right path for someone like me, but that’s what foundation courses are for right? After long consideration I opted to study Digital Arts at Kingston and obtained a bachelors degree, this covered 3D art, some basic programming, animation and web design. Like many people I know leaving university, I left in a daze of “Well what now?”

Over the years before, during and after my degree I worked as an assistant for a DJ setting up PA equipment, a sales assistant at the now gone Maplin electronics, then as a manager at a supermarket. I was no doubt all over the place trying to get my foot on the right ladder.

No more compromises… Well this is what I said to myself about a year ago, I had spent far to long pursuing careers for the sake of keeping myself afloat. I felt so much frustration and a huge lack of fulfillment in what I was doing at the time, however in doing this I was granted the piece of mind I had the financial stability to make a change so its now or never as they say. Finally I plucked up the courage and made a huge leap of faith to return to programming and left my job at the time, a few months later I joined makers.

Why Makers you ask? Well the truth is when leaving my job I had the intention of obtaining a programming position through complete independent learning. Shortly after receiving some interest from a few employers impostors syndrome set in, I still felt I had a way to go and was struggling to find people to collaborate with in a professional setting. This is why I reached out to Makers, to me its so much more than just a course, it’s an opportunity to work in a real world setting under real world practices.

What stood out to me about this course was the simple practicality of it, unlike university the curriculum is frequently updated with modern practices and its structured with the soul intent of making you a confident, employable programmer. This is not to say all university degrees are incapable of getting you a good job, just that my experience in particular was lacking in these areas. Makers also promotes a healthy working environment and values the health and well being of its students, this is with the intention of helping you work productively and with a positive mind set which i’m sure will enrich the experience.

I just cant wait to start this new chapter of my life and get my foot on the right ladder. It has taken some time to get here but I finally feel I’m on a path to a career I wholeheartedly want to pursue. I can already tell i’ll be sad to leave makers when the journey comes to an end, however i’m overwhelmed with excitement for the coming months and the potential job that follows.

If anyone can take anything away from this post I hope it’s that you should pursue your dreams, we only get one shot at the crazy thing called life so strive to make it the best it can be.