Luke Pooler

Digital Media Technology - BSc (Hons)

After attending a university close to home, Luke soon realised he wasn’t quite ready for University. He started an apprenticeship in Digital Marketing and started to build his skills and his confidence. He applied to BCU through Clearing and gained a place on the Digital Media Technology course and is now almost at the end of his placement year as a Content Assistant in a marketing team. Not only has his time at BCU developed his technical skills, but he’s also developed as a person too, ready to tackle his final year and make his mark in industry.

"I originally applied to study Graphic Design at a completely different university that gave me an unconditional offer and was local to home, but I quickly realised I wasn’t quite ready for uni and I wasn’t happy with my choice. I changed my mind after six weeks and started an apprenticeship in Digital Marketing instead so I was able to apply my skills to a real business, learn on the job and get paid to do it too.

When it came to results day, I decided to apply through Clearing to get a place at Birmingham City University on the Digital Media Technology course. I found the course offered a wide range of disciplines that would allow me to gain the skills I would need to work in the digital industry.

My biggest challenge was trying to figure out what course I wanted to study. I felt pressured into going to University because my sixth form was very University-focused, but taking a year out to work in industry helped me gain experience and an idea of what I wanted to do in the future.

During my second year I started having doubts about what I wanted to do in the future. I decided that I was going to do a placement to gain some experience and work in the sector that a typical graduate from the Digital Media Technology course would work in. The University helped me secure a placement role as a Content Assistant in Marketing, which is helping to develop my skills.

I’m really enjoying the placement and I think I will be able to carry over the soft skills such as organisation, team-working and problem-solving, and the technical skills I have gained into my final year of study. BCU has really helped me develop not only as a student, but as a person. My course has taught me technical skills such as camera operation, lighting techniques and photography and helped me utilise my HTML and CSS skills, which I use every day on my placement."