How a Pandemic Panic Led Me To Apprenticeship Success

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Pandemic Panic

April 2020, a chronic busy body in the final years of their twenties, finds themselves stuck quarantined in their childhood bedroom and furloughed.

This was my pandemic panic. I was lucky, I was healthy and I was being paid 80% of my salary, but I had too much time to think, which led me to spiral into a pandemic-induced career panic.

I was at a pivotal point in my career, I was racing to achieve “everything” by the time I turned 30 and something entirely out of my control was stopping me from progressing. This made me think hard about what I wanted from life. I was working as a Marketing Manager, but I’d had no formal training in marketing, and had fallen into this career. Although I knew how to do my job, I felt I lacked something.

What Would You Do If You Could Start Again?

Pilates was my banana bread during lockdown and I thought about training to become a Pilates instructor. But, as the world started to open up, I realised I strived on the structure and the predictability of a 9-5, and after lots of toing and froing, I came full circle and realised marketing was what I wanted to do. But, I wanted to broaden my skills and I'd always been interested in the insight and data side of marketing, I was keen to learn more and prove my skills.

I was almost 30. How could I do this? I didn’t want to take time out of my career, I didn’t have the money to fund part-time education.

And Then Came Along Multiverse

A year later,?my manager presented me with the opportunity to do an Apprenticeship in Data Literacy through Multiverse. An apprenticeship? Does he realise I’m almost…30! I’m far too old. They’d laugh at me.

I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to do it. I thought everyone else in my co-hort would already know all there was to know about Data, Excel and PowerBI. I’d fail, so it wasn’t even worth trying. But there was a bit of me that was curious and I remembered that this was what I’d wanted when I had my pandemic panic back in 2020, to learn something new. Fear was holding me back.?

So, I nervously gave it a go and attended my first session with an open mind. It soon became clear that this was an incredible opportunity that I was lucky to have. I knew I had to fight the fear and make the most of it.

During your apprenticeship, you need to spend 20% of your working week working towards your qualification and learning. I soon found I loved having this set time to learn, I didn't have that familiar guilty feeling for taking time away from my day-to-day work to expand my knowledge and skill set. I quickly saw the value this time spent learning had on my work.

Multiverse has a fantastic community and puts on tons of engaging events, seminars, tutorials, and panel discussions - you name it, it's there. I signed up for as many events as I had time for. From how to use data for good, to how to beat the 3pm slump, to presentation skills.

I threw myself into the deep end and figured out, that actually, I could swim.?

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I Thought I Had a Growth Mindset. I Was Wrong.

If you’d asked me 18 months ago whether I had a growth mindset I would have said yes. I’m a glass-half-full person, of course, I’ve got a growth mindset. I was wrong. I wanted to be in my comfort zone. My comfort zone was starting a course in something I already felt completely competent in. I now realise that real growth happens when I push myself out of my comfort zone.

I had to learn to be prepared to fail. If I couldn’t do something on the first attempt, I had a habit of giving up. What I gradually learnt was that sometimes it took the 5th or even 17th attempt to get it right! There were certain aspects of PowerBI that I just couldn’t grasp to start with. But, I tried and tried again, I watched videos, and examples of how other people used it and BOOM one day it just clicked. I could do it!

I’m Now Excited to Learn More

I have now completed my Apprenticeship learning and I'm waiting to sit my exams. Regardless of the outcome, I have achieved something. Yes practical skills, in Excel and PowerBI but also trust in myself that I can learn new things.

My Main Takeaways Now I’m at The End of My Apprenticeship?

• ?I know that I don’t need to have the correct answer for everything right now, I can always learn more.
• ?Learning is a process and can take time.
• Fears can be conquered with time, perseverance and determination.
• I now feel fulfilled in my career and confident in my data skills.
• You don’t turn into a pumpkin if you don’t achieve all your goals at the stroke of midnight on your 30th birthday.

My experience with Multiverse has been incredible, I feel really privileged to be part of their community and I now can't wait to be an active member of their alumni community. Thank you Multiverse!