How the Pandemic Panic Led me to Multiverse | by Chloe Hughes
We’re proud to have reached another milestone on our mission: our community has reached 10,000 apprentices and alumni. In this series, we’ll be celebrating this by sharing ten unique stories from some of our most inspiring Community members.
Comment below on how the Community is helping you achieve your goals!
Pandemic Panic
April 2020, a chronically 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 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. An apprenticeship? Does he realise I’m almost…30! I’m far too old. They’d laugh at me.
I was terrified 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 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, to learn something new. Fear was holding me back.
So, I nervously gave it a go and attended my Flying Start with an open mind. It soon became clear that this was an inrecirble opportunity that I was lucky to have. I knew I had to fight the fear and make the most of it. I signed upto community events, from data for good, to how to beat the 3pm slump, to presentation skills. I found podcasts to listen to, YouTube courses to follow, books to read. I really enjoyed finding things to fill my OTJ time with. I threw myself into the deep end and figured out, that actually, I could swim.
I Thought I Had a Growth Mindset. I Was Wrong.
If you’d asked me 12 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! Creating relationships in PowerBI was a great example of this, I just couldn’t grasp it to start with. But, I tried and tried again, I watched videos, and examples of how other people used relationships and BOOM one day it just clicked. I could do it!
I had been avoiding situations I was scared of, public speaking for example. But during the course, I forced myself to find opportunities to present as part of my project hand ins. I was nervous at first, but the more I presented and took opportunities to speak about what I was working on, the more confidence I had and the smaller the fear became. For me, this has been a highlight of my time at Multiverse and it has already been recognised by my manager and peers.
I’m Now Excited to Learn More
Here I am, waiting to sit my end point assessment. Regardless of the outcome, I have achieved something. Yes practical skills, in Excel and PowerBI but also the knowledge 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.
Chloe Hughes started her apprenticeship in Data Literacy at Multiverse in December 2021.