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My career has been a fairly straight forward and thoroughly enjoyable one to date, I’ve loved every job I’ve had and have always given my heart and sole to the company I work for. Here’s the breakdown (latest position listed first):
Lightmaker
During my final year at Teesside University, I attended a careers presentation by Lightmaker who were looking for placement students. I was so impressed with the quality of work and professionalism of the presentation, that I knew Lightmaker was the only company for me and arranged an interview immediately after graduating in June 2005.
The interview was very successful and I joined Lightmaker as a Production Assistant shortly after, which involved relocating to Tunbridge Wells, Kent. It was amazing to work with so many extremely talented individuals and learnt so many new skills as a result.
After a successful year of joining the company as a graduate, I was promoted to a Project Manager and gained a PRINCE2 qualification. Over the next 3 years, I worked with world renowned brands including Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), Electronic Arts, The FA, Nickelodeon, COI, Lawn Tennis Association, Oftsed and Emap.
A particularly successful project was the redevelopment of Look.co.uk, the UK’s leading fashion weekly magazine. Working together with IPC Media, the parent company of the brand, we delivered a high quality and hugely popular fashion portal both on budget and on schedule. The client was extremely happy with the results and a testimonial can be found in the relevant site section.
My time at Lightmaker was capped with winning an IMA Outstanding Achievement Award for the delivery of Drivers Republic, an innovative digital automotive publication for today’s motoring enthusiast. I worked with three of the most prominent & popular automotive journalists in the UK, including respected names from titles such as EVO and Autocar. We created a bespoke community, a web site with the latest news, reviews and adrenaline fuelled test drives, a TV and Audio player portal and a free digital magazine. The development took Drivers Republic from a start-up company to surpass many established competitors, emerging as a leader in the delivery of digital automotive publications.
Walker Hall Associates
I joined Walker Hall Associates in 2003 as a Web Developer, on an annual industrial placement as part of my BSc Multimedia Degree. The placement involved working in a highly motivated team, developing IT and Marketing-based solutions including websites, multimedia & CD-ROM production, corporate identities, training and E-learning.
It was really a fantastic experience being apart of a small development team as I was given a lot of responsibility and exposure to all sides of the business. During my time, I was a designer, a developer, a project manager, an account manager, a recruiter and even an ECDL testing co-ordinator. The varying roles and tasks undertaken really began to shape my career as a flexible and versatile individual with well rounded management, development and design skills.
Primarily, I acquired and developed new technical skills including ASP, Microsoft Access Databases, CSS, Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), Content Management Systems (CMS) whilst developing a range of promotional web sites for local start-up companies.
The bgroup (Formerly bmarketing)
During the Summer of 2003, I was keen to gain commercial experience prior to my university sandwich year so that I could acquire new skills and enhance my chances of achieving a year placement at the best company possible. I joined bmarketing, a Newcastle-based marketing agency on a two month Summer Placement as part of the Shell Technology Enterprise Programme (STEP) scheme.
I was tasked with a developing an Email Newsletter Management Application (ENMA) using PHP & MySQL which enabled users with limited technical knowledge to easily administrate daily newsletters and a database of subscribers. Working at the 'b', I made some very good friends in a warm and close-knit working environment.
I am pleased to say the bdaily newsletter is going from strength to strength and I am an avid subscriber, keeping up-to-date with the latest business news in the North East. |
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