In October we welcomed our final intern from the TRC Inspiring Digital Leaders programme, Paddy. Each month since June, we’ve been joined by one bright young graduate seeking a behind the scenes look at life in a digital agency.
The IDL internship gives graduates the opportunity to work at five of Scotland’s top creative agencies, spending time across disciplines from Client Services to UX Design. In their time at Screenmedia, the interns have been mentored by our Web Development team where they have learned to code and build beautiful websites.
Paddy has a creative background, having completed an undergraduate degree in interactive media arts and then a postgraduate degree in digital marketing. A self-professed jack of all trades, Paddy had experience across many media and marketing channels, but couldn’t decide which direction to take his career. Agency work was recommended to him by a university lecturer and the variety offered by the IDL programme seemed like the perfect fit.
In his time with us, Paddy learned how to code and built a personal portfolio website from scratch. We caught up with Paddy on his last week in the IDL programme to find out all about his time with us.
What’s been the best part of your experience on the programme? What about at Screenmedia?
I think the best part of the internship was getting to experience so many disciplines quickly. Getting to spend a full month learning an aspect of agency work in such depth was invaluable, and not something which you can typically do on your own time. It’s also given me more confidence in my abilities going forward.
At Screenmedia specifically, there is a really great quality of mentorship; having the opportunity to work with professionals who are experts in their field was the best part. Mentors like Lynne were patient in teaching me the correct way to go about web development, and it’s been great to have them guide me through it.
Was there anything that surprised you?
I came into the programme thinking that I really liked the creative side of marketing, but through the last few months I’ve realised that I actually prefer the technical aspects of the disciplines. The analytics and coding are a lot more interesting than I initially thought.
What’s something you learned while you were at Screenmedia?
Well I’ve learned how to code! Even if I don’t become a web developer, it’s a transferable skill which I can use in other areas especially working with websites or in marketing. Having that technical background is really helpful.
I’ve also learned that coding isn’t as scary as it seems and when you break it down bit by bit into a series of manageable steps it’s actually very intuitive.
How do you think this experience will help you in your career?
I think coding is something that is going to grow massively and it’s becoming a really vital skill. I’m glad that I had the chance to learn and experience it. More widely, the IDL programme will help in all aspects of my career. I’ve really enjoyed being able to work in agencies and experiencing the different disciplines, culture and teams.
It was a real pleasure to have Paddy in our studios over the past month, and we’re delighted he’s had such a good time with us. As the IDL5 programme comes to a close for 2019, we wish Rosa, Julia, Evan, Eddie and Paddy the very best of luck in the future and hope to see them all again soon!
If you’re a bright and ambitious young graduate like Paddy, we’d love to hear from you! Check out our graduate roles and see where you could fit in.
Maddie
Business Development