Started from the bottom, now it’s been a year
So, I’ve officially been at Carbon for a year. A whole year as a digital account executive, working with so many lovely people and meeting some amazing clients too. I have learnt so much in such a short space of time and I am super excited to keep learning and contributing to the Carbon team. In just one year I feel like I have learnt so much, not just from the digital team I work with, but with the branding, animation and print teams too! I have been a sponge, trying to soak up everyone’s knowledge and understand everything we can offer here at Carbon.
Learning the ropes…
When I started this job my digital website knowledge was limited. I was in web team meetings furiously writing down what everyone had been up to so that I could go back to my desk, read my notes and try and understand what was going on. The designers would talk about website wireframes and a ‘hero’ and I wouldn’t have a clue what they were talking about. Even though I am not afraid of asking lots of questions (and believe me, I do) every answer seemed to come with about 3 other questions! One year on and with some amazing help and guidance from the designers and developers, who have the patience of saints honestly, I can safely say I know a lot more about how our websites work. Thanks to the amazing staff we have in the web team, I can confidently talk clients through their website and help explain our processes and don’t always need to ask someone else to help! Success!
Dipping my toe in…
Carbon Creative is an integrated brand and digital agency, we don’t just create beautiful effective websites, we also offer services in branding, animation, campaigns, social media and printing too. You name it, we do it! Although my official job title is within the digital team, it’s been fab to have been given the opportunity to work with the brand team on jobs and help understand the specialist world of printing. After an intense Christmas period I was asked to help with the print jobs we were receiving. Now, I can officially kit anyone out in printed items for a Christmas party, award show or end of year celebration. It’s been so interesting to understand the complexity of printing specifications, the amount of material options out there still blows my mind even now and it’s always fun to work with suppliers to see a client’s vision come to life! I’m forever grateful that I’ve been exposed to this side of the agency. I wouldn’t have thought about getting involved in printing when I left university but now it’s great to be able to expand my knowledge in all areas of agency life.
Carving my own path
While it’s been great to see myself understand more and more about what we do at Carbon and be able to provide helpful input with teams and projects, I knew I wanted to be able to offer something else. I have always loved writing, ever since I was little. I have always had my head in a book (or in the clouds), it’s why I had so many bumps and bruises as a child, I’d be too busy dreaming up another story to see hazards in front of me! After getting my degree in English and creative writing I came straight to Carbon, wanting to explore my interest within the digital sphere. Within my time here I realised I could use my writing skills and tailor them for Carbon. I decided to use my personal development time to go to search engine optimisation courses and learn from the experts what it takes to make clients websites as content rich as possible and help tell their stories. In preparation for the course I read as many articles, listened to as many podcasts and learnt from the rest of the web team as much as I could, to try and understand as much basic knowledge of SEO. A few months have passed since my course now (which was 7 hours in a tiny room with 16 people and a room full of computers on the HOTTEST day of the YEAR – just my luck) and to share what I had learnt I created a presentation for the rest of the team. I have begun my own thought leadership piece from what I have learnt so far (coming soon! Watch this space). Not only that, I’ve had some great feedback and encouragement from the rest of the team and have even started putting my plans into practice. It’s the start of something I’m really excited about and I can’t wait to see where it takes me.
The future?
It’s been a crazy year. With Carbon I have been to network conferences and award nights, taken part in tree planting, litter picks, Macmillan coffee mornings and bake offs, met Mr Motivator (what?) and marched with Manchester for the #climatestrike. No day is the same and it’s been wild. I have been super lucky to come into a team that is so welcoming and ready to help me learn as much as I can about the digital and brand industry. I am grateful for all the time Carbon have given me, as well as running a successful agency. I’m having a great time and I can’t wait to continue, grow and help Carbon to be more and more successful. Let’s see what the future brings, eh.
