My Gratitude CV

After an interesting conversation that started from a serious of tweets between me and Piotr, I was inspired to write this blog post on my gratitude CV.

As we get so caught up with working towards one next big break, it’s easy to forget about taking a moment to thank the people that have helped pull you up the ladder along the way.

Writing this was a great reminder of those that helped me in my crazy path of trying to figure out who I am and what I wanted to do with my life. Without all these people, I don’t know where I’ll be today so thank you. 🙏 To begin, I’ll be taking you all the way back to 2014… the year that I got my first job!

I also recommend that you also give Piotr’s blog post a read on his own gratitude resume!

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2014

My manager from the local café. I remember walking in for the first time with a pretty much empty CV. I was just about to go to University and wanted a part-time job to suport me (and to spend a little money of my own for the first time!) Thank you to my manager for putting up with me even though I kept messing up orders and was the worse barista probably ever. Thanks for giving me a shot though – it helped me more than you know!

2015 – 2016

I didn’t really enjoy my first retail experience and as I was leaving, I thought that they were all going to be similar. But the team at schuh really turned that around for me. I was so sad to leave, and actually aimed to return after my placement year (but then other things called for me!) So a big thank you to all my former colleagues at schuh, who made me feel part of the family from day one.

I especially want to thank my former manager, Amber Hobbs. She gave me the opportunity to get better as a sales assistant; ensuring that I not only hit my sales goals, but go beyond them too! Constantly giving me constructive feedback, I’ve definitley learned from them all, built up my confidence and skills and now continue to use them in my work today.

2016 – 2017

Whenever someone asks me about the most life-changing year of my life, I always say between the year 2016 – 2017. Looking back, it was my most successful personal development and growth because of all the support that I had from so many different people.

AJ for giving me a chance at working in tech after meeting at a Biomedical Sciences project. First at Diva Creative and then later on at TechDept. I picked up a lot from him (especially front-end dev) and my experience with him really helped “get my foot in the door.”

To all my colleagues during my placement year for sticking with me as I adjusted to my new environment. Before this, I had never worked in an office environment before so it was all very new to me!

A special shoutout to my line manager at the time, Amy Woolley, for always having my best interest at heart – a rare trait. During my time working with her, she was keen in getting the work done (as we all are) but she also cared so much about my personal development. Amy made sure that I was getting the most out of the 12 months in my placement year, and giving me guidance on career options after I finish the placement and my final year at University. Her massive investment in my career development was a real game-changer for me.

Although I expressed an interest in a different route to what I was doing on my placement year, she fully supported me. I’m definitley where I am today because of the golden advice that she constantly provided (and conintously to this day!)

I worked with Bryony Olney during my placement year as well. Bryony’s enthuasiam and love for technology ignited my passion for it again as well. Seeing her experiment with new technologies and being part of some of her projects made it clear to me that I wanted to work in tech with tech.

Today, when I feel down and confused about where I’m going in my career… I think of Bryony and generally this time period where I had a golden level amount of support to truly become the best version there is of me.

The Code First: Girls community – it was around this time I discovered this community that I didn’t know would actually change my life. I’ve blogged and shared so much about Code First: Girls in the past, but they need another mention for giving me a purpose and direction when at the time I didn’t have any.

Thank you to former CEO, Amali de Awis, for the constant support with the courses I was running in Sheffield but also for being a beacon on inspiration. It’s still a huge honour to know that she used a snippet from one of my blog posts as part of her acceptance speech at Computer Weekly (I’m not over it yet!)

2017 – 2018

Anna Nibbs, Alison Riley, Liz Taylor, Gary Wood and all the wonderful people I met during my part-time job at The University of Sheffield Enterprise.

This job was one of my favourites because I had the chance to speak to so many incredible entrepreneurial students and support them in any way that I could (even if it was just listening to their idea as they waited around.) Speaking to them inspired me to do build my own little projects and thoroughly let my creative juices flow.

I think that this experience is part of the reason why I’m so motivated to create things in my spare time. Thank you for letting me part of the USE family! It was an absolute blast. 🙌🏻

Gabi Kakonyi and Steve Thornton, who I still continue to work with today as part of my remote developer role at The Universiity of Sheffield.

I’m so glad that I came across this job. Being a remote developer was something I wanted to explore, and now 3 years on, I’m still enjoying it! It has been quite nice to have this job on the side to keep developing my skills as a front-end developer, and for some headspace (I find front end dev so theraputic!)

Both Gabi and Steve have been incredibly supportive in trusting me with developing and maintaing this project. Also, for all the ideas I throw their way to make it even better! It is this trust that I really appreciate.

Fresh out of university, I was still unsure with which path to take. I’m grateful that I had the chance to connect with Grace Perry on LinkedIn, who gave me the chance to move out of Sheffield and settle into Leeds. I secured my first role in Leeds with EMIS Health, thanks to a simple LinkedIn connection. Powerful stuff.

Even though I decided to move on after my 3 months was over, I’m thankful for Grace for recommending me for the role and Colin Middlemiss, my manager at the time, for supporting me on several different projects in those short summer months.

2018 – 2019

This one was a big year for me – my first year out of university, out of home and working full-time in the corporate world.

I have to admit, there were a few bumpy first few months with me being quite homesick and a few personal events taking me by surprise… But as I settled in and continued to focus on learning it got better (and getting even better!)

I have a lot of people to show gratitude for, but I wanted to start with my fellow graduates – Hannah and Rabia – who both began the journey into tech with me. I don’t know how I would have gotten through the homesickness, the general anxiety of starting at such a massive company and imposter syndrome without these two.

We’ve formed this incredible support system since that allows me to be myself and truly open and honest without judgement. The support I give and recieve is geniunely something I hope that everyone has 💖

Mentor of the year award goes to… Lauren! Lauren supported all of us months before we even started our role. Without the support from her, I don’t know how we would’ve gotten through the first few months of our collective “starting a new chapter” anxiety. I’m thankful to know of such a powerhouse, who continues to be my inspiration – showing me where hard work can take you!

My colleague, Alia, who supported me in my first 6 months. My first day was scary, but she made me feel at ease almost instantly. Our relationship has developed so much since, she has supported me during my bad days and celebrated to the fullest on my best days. A trait that the best mentors have.

Another colleague, Daniel, who during my second rotation gave me the support that I needed to get into the dev side. The saying, “there are no stupid questions” rings true when I work with Daniel. He never made me feel silly for asking seemingly obvious questions (so I guess that’s why I keep asking them, even to this day, a year on lol.) Working in this team improved my confidence in myself as a techie, Daniel contributed to that by making sure that I was getting involved in the squad’s daily work. Almost instantly, I felt at as though I was just another developer in the team! As a junior, this is the best feeling ever.

Mark, my current line manager, for keeping my enthuasism alive, no matter what. I recognise that I’m not totally skilled up like the other engineers in the team in my third rotation, but Mark has kept encouraging me even when I was struggling. His trust, faith in me and constant support is something that I have seen in great managers, he definitley is one of them.

A special thanks to Navila who runs the graduate programme for Consumer. She has supported me constantly this year, and has recommended me and my work across the business which is something I am so extremely grateful for. Navila has constantly worked to ensure that my graduate scheme experience is the best that it can be and that I get the most out of my two years and is the true definition of an advocate. 🤗

All of the time

I had to include Tech Twitter in this post. I have picked up so many nuggets of wisdom relating to tech, careers and personal development all from the community that I’m part of. I’ve also met so many wonderful folks on there who have continously supported me throughout my journey! On some days where I have fear and self-doubt take over, it’s a nice reminder that no matter where life takes me, it’ll be all OK. 😊

Look at me & my Twitter friend @paulienuh! It was like catching up a long lost soul mate, even though this was the first time we met. I’ve got dry mouth from talking so much 😂

We’re the @gracebeverley of tech and we’re going to do amazing things. Watch this space 💘 pic.twitter.com/LCVMfmNKX5

— Ella is in St Lucia 🌴 (@botting_ella) July 10, 2019

And what is a blog post on here without a mention of my partner?

Since meeting Matt, my life has gotten better. His relentless fire and ambition inspires the hell out of me. Having him around has helped keep me focused on what is important and his support keeps me going even when I want to give up.

Matt makes me better. I’m. so. grateful.

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With the interest of keeping this gratitude post short(ish) and sweet as possible this list is nonexhaustive. There have been an abundance of support throughout my career journey so far, and more to come! Thank you to everyone that has contributed in some way – I appreciate it more than you’ll ever know. 😊

Here’s to the future 🥳