Yunis Osman

"Always make sure that the culture of the company is right for you!"

I chose Essex as I had friends who had studied there who told me about the department and the campus.

One of my favourite parts was my Capstone project. I chose to work on a search and rescue robot, but when I started, I honestly felt it was impossible. However, after six months I had a real functioning thing that I could demonstrate! I really enjoyed the artificial intelligence aspects, and this has now fed into my role as I focus on AI and automation. I have also since found that the department has a way of creating assignments that match how deadlines work at companies with eerie accuracy.

After graduation I started out as many Computer Science graduates do, a bit lost and ready to push my energy into whatever slot I would fall into. I was lucky enough to land a job at a CRM specialist agency which let me work abroad in Sydney for 9 months on an extended project (and back in London of course) for some high-profile clients like Sony, RBS, giffgaff, Virgin Australia, the list goes on.

I then moved onto another agency working in the marketing automation space who specifically only took on clients that were charities, which taught me a lot about the different 'sides' of agency life and the needs of different clients in varied sectors. Before I knew it, I moved on to take a senior role at my first in-house company.

Five years is not a long time, but so much has happened in that period. My degree has been key for this role, I couldn't imagine going down this path without having studied it. Computer Science is great in that way, you can go anywhere!

A piece of advice I'd give is a general one - always make sure that the culture of the company is right for you! Work is more than getting your tasks out, and opportunities arise at workplaces which help you develop as a person. For example, I'm now a mental-health first aider at my company along with working in a senior role.