You Want To Do What?

We chat with Jono about life as a UX designer and a Product Manger. Two careers that have been born out of the tech revolution, UX design is becoming more and more important as we move to an increasingly digital world, people want to use Apps, websites, etc that are built with the user in mind and the ones that don't will be left behind. Another aspect of this world is Product management, creating software etc now requires so many different aspects and people with different skill sets, which means it all needs to be brought together by someone who understands the whole process and can help to bring the product together.  Two really interesting careers covered by Jono who gives so much great advice about getting started in either of these careers. We also chat about Jono's brilliant website sketchplanations.com which explains one thing a week in a sketch, its brilliant and you could spend hours looking through it. A real pleasure to chat with Jono. 

We chat with Ellie Paton about life as a Head Buyer in the fashion industry. Ellie tells us all about the inner workings of the fashion industry and the role of a buyer within the industry, if you interested in a career in fashion then this episode is a must listen, loads of great information about how to get started, what potential employers are looking for, and how you can progress once you are in the industry. We also chat about how the internet and social media has revolutionised the industry and the role of a buyer, its so important to be up to date with the latest trends and developments within these hubs of potential customer activity. A pleasure to chat with Ellie. 

We chat with Vanessa Challess about founding her own law firm with the goal of doing everything as differently from the traditional law firms as she could. We chat about how to get into the industry, as well as changes that are being brought in to open up the industry to a wider audience, offering different routes to qualification, such as Cylex and periods of qualifying experience. We also talk about the day to day life of a lawyer, the positives, negatives and salary expectations within the industry. If your thinking about getting into law this is a must listen, Vanessa gives loads of great advice about how to stand out and get started in the industry. A real pleasure to chat with Vanessa.  

We chat with Olivia Smith about life as a Public Historian and TV Researcher. If your a history buff like Jules and I then you will love this episode, loads of great insight into where a history degree can take you, in Olivia's case, it has led to some pretty amazing opportunities, such as giving world leaders and Professional rugby players tours of first world war battlefields. Olivia is a brilliant example of the get up and go attitude you need to have if you want to stand out in an increasingly competitive job market, through networking and putting herself out there, by messaging, emailing and using social media such such as her twitter account to express views on her subject or share really interesting history facts, she has been able to build a very impressive set of contacts in the world of History which will become invaluable over the coming years. A real pleasure to chat with Olivia. 

We chat with Wayne Perrey about life as a Carpenter working on Major garden and Interior makeover shows. Wayne didn't start out as a carpenter, in fact he had a very successful career as an Actor, starting in west end shows and long running TV shows. We chat about how Wayne made the move across and how the skills that he had developed over his previous career stood him in very good stead to be successful in his current career. We also talk about what its like to work on these shows, how to get into the industry, from starting out as a runner through to networking and developing your own personal brand. This episode has lots of great advice for a real variety of people who may have slightly different ideas of what they would like to do, from Acting, to TV work, to Carpentry, Wayne offers his perspective on a career change and the advantage having multiple transferable skills can give you when entering into a new profession. A real pleasure to chat with Wayne.  

We chat with Shiraz Khan about life as a dentist, on his walk home through central London after a bus day at the office, bear with the audio quality on this one as Shiraz gives some great advice on the industry and has a super positive outlook on life. We talk about getting into dentistry, the paths you can take, the positives, negatives, salary expectations as well as Shiraz doing some "breaking" on the side. A pleasure to chat with Shiraz 

We chat with Matthew about life as an Antique Jeweller. Matthews family have been involved in the Antique business for a few generations, so he has always been around the industry, but it wasn't until Matthew decided he would get into the industry himself that he realised just how much he loved the world of antique jewellery, from the history of the objects to the satisfaction of delighting his clients with stunning finds. A really great chat about how to get into the industry, courses and qualifications you can attain, the importance of building a network as well as details on how to run a business in the world of antique jewellery such as cash flow and the ever increasing importance of social media. A real pleasure to chat with Matthew.    

We chat with Emma about life as an Osteoarchaeologist. Osteoarchaeology is the scientific study of human skeletons excavated from archaeological sites. There are two main aspects to Emmas work, those being field work which involves uncovering remains and lab work which involves the anthropologic study of the remains found. Osteoarchaeologist's can tell an incredible amount of information about an individual by studying their bones such as demography, health, disease, diet, stature as well as migration of populations. We chat about the Importance of networking and getting as much field work experience as possible to help yourself stand out from the crowd when job hunting. We also talk about the importance of developing analytical skills, as working with Data becomes an ever more important part of the career, as well as what an average day is like in the industry, the positives, the negatives and what you could expect to earn in the career. If you have an interest in History and a desire to uncover the past by piecing the story back together with your discoveries then this sounds like the career for you! A real pleasure to chat with Emma. 

We chat with Jay about life as a software engineer in a law firm. Many industries are just starting to go through a digital transformation, looking at their workflows and seeing where they can improve their processes or better serve their customers/clients. Jay initially went down the route of becoming a lawyer but decided it wasn't quite the right fit for him, so started to dip his toes into learning code and he hasn't looked back since. Jay now works at Stephenson Law, helping to build out the company's tech offering, as well as founding his own startup. We chat about how Jay started learning code on Freecodecamp, how he approached different coding languages and his advice on what you should start with. We also chat about the importance of building your own brand and showcasing your work or side projects on LinkedIn, which Jay has used to his advantage along his journey into software development. Some brilliant advice for anyone thinking of getting into software development or Law and the many, many opportunities that are available to someone who decides to go down either of these paths. A real pleasure to chat with Jay.    

We chat with Daniel Toker about life as a Neuroscientist. Daniel is a post doctoral scientist at UCLA, researching states of unconsciousness, with the hope of understanding what is going on in the brain when we are unconscious, and how we could apply this knowledge to help people who may be in a vegetative state to wake up. Daniel developed an interest in the brain and how it worked from his early teenage years, but he didn't think he would end up being a scientist, instead Daniel had his eye on the creative world, but as you will hear after Daniel read "The Cosmos" by Carl Sagan it changed his view point and led him down the path of scientific enquiry. Daniel approaches neuroscience with a mix of theory and experiment, whereas most in Neuroscience approach the subject in an experimental way, we chat about what this involves such as planning research projects, caring out experiments, Chaos Theory, writing code, developing scientific tools for experimentalists, and further developing our understanding of the brains complex chemical processes. We also talk about our own experiences at school and how we can sometimes think we are no good at a subject when in fact we just aren't excited by the way we are learning it, and it is not until you can apply the knowledge you have learnt to a real world problem that you suddenly find your understating and interest in the subject increase. A really interesting chat  with loads of great information on the subject, if you are interested in Neuroscience make sure to check out Daniels website thebrainscientist.com. A real pleasure to chat with Daniel.