To celebrate National Apprenticeship Week 2021, I thought now would be a good time to share some exciting news – I have completed my Marketing Apprenticeship with Digital Storm!
I chose to do an apprenticeship immediately after leaving secondary school. Since doing so, I have become an advocate for apprenticeships. Learning while working is one of the best ways to gain up-to-date knowledge and practical experience.
Choosing to do an apprenticeship with a full-service agency allows me to work with numerous clients and projects as well as learn skills across the whole spectrum of digital marketing. This is setting me well for a prosperous career in marketing and has allowed me to identify my strengths and weaknesses in the field.
Since starting in September 2019, I have been working closely with colleagues and clients at Digital Storm on many projects and campaigns. I have thoroughly enjoyed every moment of my apprenticeship and I have learnt a lot about the world of marketing and agency life.
In December 2020, as this long year was (finally) coming to a close, I handed in a selection of work, as well as my certificates earned throughout my apprenticeship, including qualifications in marketing, coding and the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) Level 4.
Following a final interview with the examiner and a week of frantically refreshing my inbox, I was very proud to receive an email letting me know I had passed with a Distinction!
When I started, I didn’t expect to be completing my apprenticeship in a pandemic and certainly didn’t expect to be working at home on my own.
I enjoyed working with the team in the office for my first 6 months, and when we transitioned to working from home in March 2020, it was a big change. Completing the apprenticeship from home was unplanned but after many video calls, screen shares and messages, I did it. It’s been a crazy year but I’ve loved every minute of it and I am very proud to finish the apprenticeship with the grade I wanted.
I’m very grateful to Digital Storm for supporting me throughout my apprenticeship. I’d also like to say thanks to the College staff for helping me learn remotely.
“Olivia displayed fantastic confidence and a real keen interest in what we do from the moment she stepped through the office doors. We are all very proud of her development over the last 14 months, she has been a real asset to the team. It’s been a difficult apprenticeship for her spending so much of it working from home and learning from her colleagues via video calls but she hasn’t let this impact her spirit and we are glad that she has managed to still complete the apprenticeship a few months early.” Curtis Williams, Business Development Manager at Digital Storm says.
I would continue to recommend apprenticeships to anyone, even in a pandemic. It’s a great way to gain hands on experience and a chance to immerse yourself in the industry, guided by your colleagues and employer. Marketing itself is a very fast-paced complex environment to work in, so the more experience and knowledge you can gain, the better, and an apprenticeship is a great way to jump in.
I am now excited to continue my agency journey and work with Digital Storm in the marketing department. We have already started the year well by Natalka joining us as the new Marketing Manager and now I’m really excited to be working alongside the team and our clients on some exciting new projects.
