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The Transition From Education to Work Life


Dimitri Sifonios - 25th April 2019 - 0 comments

7am, alarm sounding, birds tweeting – I roll over to the side of my bed and grab my phone off the charger. Read, reply and clear all my notifications. With my eyelids still glued together from my sleep, I turn over on to my back, and in my mind I ponder the biggest conundrum every university student faces each week… “Do I go to my 9am lecture?” In most cases by the time I have reached an answer I have already drifted in and out of sleep five times and it’s 8am already. Whoops, guess I am not making it in for 9am… again.

This leads me to the very first thing working life has taught me – discipline. To be honest, I thought the constant 9am starts would have proved quite tough at the start, however it was relatively easy to adjust to a schedule. Early-ish bedtimes and three or four warning alarms in the morning are key to my success in waking up. Also, a quick shout out to my mum for dropping me at the station each morning!

Now, for the most part, the days at university were extremely boring – obviously the nights out were a different story. Generally, there would be 2/3 hour-long breaks in-between lectures – in which I made the most of by studying of course… YouTube counts as studying right?

In all seriousness, once I completed the work for each module there was so much extra time to fill and as I did not move out for university it meant I couldn’t go home to pass the time.

I think this is part of the reason I am enjoying my work life here at Snack Media so much more than university life. I am never bored at work, there is always stuff to be getting on with and work to be producing.

My work ethic and efficiency has also been improved by the social aspect of work – I believe the banter and conversation between the table I sit on works as a catalyst in the whole table producing excellent work, we all strive to help each other succeed.

What I was most surprised at is how much I have learned in these past three months at work compared to my three years at university. Studying mathematics at university was like learning a new language. It doesn’t compare to any maths previously done at A Level or GCSE. The difficulty was unreal – I even had to write a whole essay in Cipher Text about Cipher Text.

I found that a lot of the time all I was doing was regurgitating definitions and formulae I had learned in textbooks and lectures. This is the main difference I have noticed since starting work. My role here at Snack has been extremely hands on and practical since day one, I have not stopped learning and have been inquisitive and adventurous where possible.

Having both my managers, Matt and Tom, sat next to me has been like private tuition in the three months I have been here, it’s like having access to two talking advertisement encyclopaedias and they have new tips and tricks for me each day.

I have never once felt lost or clueless and actually believe at this moment in time I could tell you more about advertising than I could about my degree.

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Dimitri Sifonios

Dimitri is a Junior Ad Operator. Follow him on Twitter @DimitriSifonios

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