Four years after studying intense political conflicts and other research-heavy topics, Natasha Hughes joined Informed’s Graduate Scheme to transfer her academic skills into the world of digital consultancy.
Here, Natasha talks about the university skills that have helped her professionally, as well as the new opportunities she has found in her role to further develop them in a dynamic and practical setting.
Why Informed?
Having studied for an undergraduate degree in Politics, and a master’s in Conflict, Governance and Development, both from the University of York, a career in the tech sector didn’t immediately seem an obvious route for career exploration.
Throughout my time in study, consultancy had always interested me because of the opportunities to apply the analytical and research skills that I had developed and formulate solutions for unique issues. When a friend from university, who had already joined Informed’s graduate programme, offered to refer me because they thought it would be a great fit for me, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to enter the consultancy space because of Informed’s broad project base, tech4good ethos, and skills development opportunities.
Cultural Fit
Through my Master’s Degree studies, I had developed an interest in agricultural warfare and famine, which became the focus for my thesis. I wanted to see if I could analyse existing data and literature to theorise a real-world solution and, in turn, contribute to sustainable and peaceful innovation and resolution.
Informed has offered similar opportunities, through the varying client base and tech4good projects success stories, to provide tangible solutions and potentially resolve wider issues by analysing and formulating improvements to users’ experiences. I soon realised that I didn’t need technical or coding experience to start a career in tech, and my academic background wasn’t going to be limiting – rather something to build on.
Whilst studying famines and political unrest may not sound like the most transferable experience to the sector, the analytical skills I developed when studying a humanities-based degree were, to my surprise, naturally transferred into digital consultancy, alongside a shared passion for making the world a better place.
Building Out My Skillset
On joining Informed, my first area of responsibility was to join a major healthcare project where I was carrying out research for a discovery phase. I was nervous to begin with as I was not sure if I’d have the necessary skills to carry out the tasks assigned to me. Not long into starting, however, I realised that a lot of the processes I had followed academically were similar to those that were now required.
When writing my thesis at university, I had to read hundreds of different articles and excerpts from books to ensure that I was aware of the current landscape of the topic. This is very similar to the start of a discovery phase, where you carry out desk research about a question or challenge that an organisation has to address.
The vast amounts of support provided through InformedACADEMY™ masterclasses, coaching and colleague guidance, and engaging Communities of Practice, have meant that I have been able to develop different, innovative ideas and processes to conduct research and analysis.
Learning to Present
Starting out in consultancy, I knew that presenting and engaging with clients was something that I was going to have to embrace. I had only ever had to present to groups of up to 15 people throughout my time at university, and it was an experience that would often leave me nervous and worried that I wouldn’t be able to articulate my ideas.
Early in my Informed journey I quickly began engaging with both clients and users of the services that we were designing. The scale at which I had to interact began to increase and culminated with me being asked to present my research findings on a healthcare project to the general public. The thought of being on a livestream to an unknown number of people certainly made me anxious, but I was also excited to present months of hard work.
Being in such a collaborative environment, several colleagues from inside and outside of my team allowed me to practice with them and provided me with tips on the best ways to make it engaging. The support I was given enabled me to feel confident and be clear and concise whilst presenting vitally important research findings to over one hundred people.
Could Digital Consultancy Be for You?
I’m thrilled that I took the leap into digital consultancy, something that has given me such a variety of experience and allowed me to contribute to projects that make a huge difference to people’s lives.
Politics and humanities may not be the most commonly found degrees amongst graduates at Informed, or within the technical sector as a whole, but my time on the graduate programme has made me realise that you don’t need a degree in computer science or similar to develop your passion and skillset for digital.
Could you be a part of our next graduate cohort?
