Global Marketing Agency Champions Grimsby Institute

I was studying Computer Science somewhere else, originally, and I realised I preferred the design elements of that course – so jumped ship to concentrate on Creative and Interactive Design at Grimsby Institute.

The Grimsby Institute course helped my personal development – what I wanted to be, how I should go into it, what I should do and, importantly, what I should avoid. I got to explore different skills and find what I was good at and what I enjoyed.

That’s how I learned that my real skills lay in creating brands, building websites and generally in marketing.

So, my Grimsby Institute course gave me confidence about my abilities and it gave me the confidence to talk to people in the industry, which got me my first jobs.

I genuinely believe that doing a degree at Grimsby Institute’s University Centre gives you opportunities – but it doesn’t spoon feed you. You have to have the determination and the energy to do work yourself. You have to learn to solve problems yourself – because that’s the greatest life skill you can learn.

In return, you’ll get to meet and enjoy working with new, fascinating people. You’ll learn a new, professional language. You’ll be driven to discover new skills you didn’t know you had and, if you’re lucky, you’ll find the thing that you love and want to do forever. And, importantly, going to university lets you have fun while you’re learning.

My tutors were very interesting, real characters with a lot of experience that they shared with us. I enjoyed learning from them. Indeed, they impressed me so much, I was happy to go back into the department a few years later to work alongside them.

I studied two courses at Grimsby Institute – firstly a Graphic Design Diploma and then I went on to the University Centre to do my Degree in Creative & Interactive Design, for which I received a First!

In 2012, I was working for my grandad’s business and he wanted to have a website – so I went to Grimsby Institute simply to learn how to do that. While there, I found I was really enjoying the course. I enjoyed the subject, the culture and the people I was working with – I had no idea that I was interested in design until I discovered it through my studies.

So, I made the decision to pursue a career in design and felt I should go to university to do that. I was accepted at three unis, but decided on Grimsby, in part, because I was already living in a shared house and already had a part-time job, so learning locally would allow me to continue with all this.

But, also, when I met the staff on the design course, I was really impressed by them and by the facilities that were available – all of which made the course feel very appealing.

There was no sense of ‘making do’, it was the course I wanted at the place I wanted!

I studied a degree in Business Management and I purposefully chose Grimsby Institute’s University Centre because it allowed me to get the higher education I wanted, whilst staying local. Like many people, I had commitments so I had to stay local, which meant the Institute gave me an opportunity I would have otherwise missed.

The Grimsby Institute degree was also perfect for me because it included elements of Sociology, Politics and Ethics, which gave the course a more holistic scope – much more than other courses I checked out. I wanted to have that wider experience.

I took two courses at Grimsby Institute, first there was my Motor Vehicle Apprenticeship, then I followed that with a Computing Extended Diploma.

I chose the Apprenticeship, first, because I had school-based work experience in a motor vehicle business and enjoyed that, so the opportunity to get an Apprenticeship as a mechanic was very appealing.

Although I ultimately decided to take my career in a different direction, I still gained a lot from the Apprenticeship – such as customer support skills and how to speak to customers in a professional way. I developed a great grasp of time management in order to get cars back to customers in good time. I created structured workflows and pre-planned jobs to work most effectively and efficiently. One of the most important things I learned was how to work as part of a team and how to communicate clearly with my co-workers.

Fixing and building computers had always been a hobby, but I’d never seen it as a career option. Then, whilst working at the garage, there were occasions when the company computers needed fixing or updating. I found that I enjoyed doing that even more than fixing the cars. It was a real lightbulb moment for me and I decided I wanted to have a career working under the bonnets of computers instead of cars.