Hello dear reader, I’m Aaron, and this is a story about my time at YourShortlist.
At the start of the internship, a question that kept floating around my mind was, ‘What is a games developer from Abertay University going to do in an IT position?’, and I’d imagine many from around the world going into the job market would have a similar question when weighing their options. Certainly, the overlap was present, but it seemed slim; at least, it would not be seen as conventional. In my mind, it was comparable to a bodybuilder trying out swimming. Regardless, I decided that it was worth the experience, and of course, the skills and employability credentials that I would earn from the Saltire Scholars Programme would be infinitely valuable. So, I did, I applied, and to my surprise, I was shortlisted. Another week later, the interview came, and before long, I was sitting at a desk in a Glaswegian office, getting to grips with the company’s IT systems.
As an IT Intern, I was initially tasked with an internal gamification project designed to improve employee engagement and visibility of performance metrics. I thought that it would be a good use of my knowledge from university, so I applied what I had learnt, using studied game design principles to produce a full gamification brief in the form of a technical design document. This gave the company ideas about behavioural insights that could be applied to its broader efforts to improve employee engagement, development and retention.
However, once I was instructed to start building the project, that was where my knowledge diverged from the project. After taking the team’s skillset and the project scope into consideration, it was decided that I would instead build a web-based tool to support the team’s internal processes. This would allow me to create something practical, extendable and manageable beyond the end of my internship.
So, there I was, sifting through pages and pages of forums, articles and documentation, learning modern full-stack web development principles, as well as database management and design. Now, for a bit of history, I had previously studied full-stack web development as part of a high school assignment. So, admittedly, I went into this with more confidence than a complete beginner, but little did I know, the world of web development had changed so much since high school. I was working with frameworks and libraries that didn’t exist a few years ago.
I won’t lie, it was a little daunting at first, but I would be wrong if I said it wasn’t very satisfying when everything finally clicked. If I may borrow your imagination for a moment, dear reader, imagine when you were in mathematics class staring down a complex question with concepts spanning multiple chapters. Sure, it’ll be daunting at first. You might need to break it down, revise your notes, or even rewatch old lectures. But the moment it clicks, and ink from your pen starts flowing like water, equation after equation, culminating in a final answer that aligns with the initial question. That, dear reader, is the joy of overcoming adversity, surpassing your own limits, learning something new, and actually seeing what you’ve learnt in action.
Adaptability is not just like trying to fit a square into a circular hole. What’s important is being able to later take that square and mould it to fit a triangular hole, then a star-shaped one, then one shaped like the letter ‘K’ and so on. What matters is not just doing well in one thing, but being able to take the transferable skills in what you are good at, then translate them to fit other fields and give yourself a head start. Like a salesperson using their negotiation skills in a debate setting, or a bodybuilder leveraging their above-average physique to be a better swimmer. Or, in my case, using computer science transferable skills of algorithmic thinking, problem-solving, optimisation, data structures and research to give myself a head start in full-stack web development.
Personally, I do believe this has greatly improved my self-confidence and shown me that my future career paths are not limited to just the games industry. I have proven to myself that I am capable of taking up IT positions as well.
Finally, I sit here writing the blog the same day that I’ve submitted my project, alongside all the documentation. Overall, the team was pleased with the project and the contribution it could make to improving internal processes, efficiency, clarity and visibility. I also had the opportunity to work with company data, helping to identify and correct data inconsistencies and improve its overall accuracy.
I’d like to give a special acknowledgement to my fellow interns, Mahi and Divya, who not only were the source of many great times and laughs, but also a good source of emotional support. It would have been daunting being the only intern here, but knowing that there’s someone there in the same position as you did yield a good level of assurance.
I’d also be remiss to forget our joint fundraising efforts for the Saltire Scholars Programme, where we held a bake sale and charity game night, in which I introduced the company to the game Blood on the Clocktower for the first time, an instant community in a box.
An acknowledgement goes out to Anna as well, my handler from the Saltire Scholars Programme, who has given me great advice during the internship and has been quite helpful during the application process.
And to you, dear reader, I’d say, take that leap, challenge yourself, try something outside your skillset and your comfort zone. Of course, don’t forget to always be adaptable. Remember that a Jack of all trades, master of none is oftentimes better than a master of one.
The Saltire Scholars Programme is a very good way to connect yourself with the greater corporate world, and it is an invaluable experience that is definitely worth taking. I’d strongly recommend it.
