‘Becoming a mature student was best career decision I made’
AFTER moving here from Lithuania, my working career started in various food factories before I became a machine operator. I knew that this role would not fulfil my ambitions and, while in my workplace, I came across an internal job advert for a system model administrator.
This was the perfect opportunity to shift my career from machine operator to something more interesting and challenging. A short time later, my manager saw my potential and suggested I pursue further studies with the possibility to progress within the group.
I enrolled in college in 2013 to study a HNC in computing. Working full-time and studying part-time, I managed to finish my studies with a distinction. This helped me get a promotion to a technician. However, I wanted to progress further and become an engineer. This is where my Cardiff Met journey began.
I joined the BSc Hons in computer science course in 2015. Studying full-time, attending all classes and working 39 hours per week meant that my only day off was a Sunday. And Sundays weren’t really days off as I needed to do my homework and assignments for university.
Also, the academic language was not simple for me as it was not what I used in my everyday life.
I needed to revisit the more difficult subjects to ensure that I understood these fully before the next class as it was all new to me. Those two years were tough, but the knowledge and experiences I gained were immeasurable. I finished with a first-class degree and received a dissertation of the year award, which made me believe that all the stress and hard work had been well worth it in the end.
Most importantly, my studies gave me the knowledge and necessary skills to advance in my career at Newport Wafer Fab. As promised by my workplace, I became a graduate CIM engineer in 2017 and one year later I was promoted to CIM engineer.
I have since decided to study further and enrolled in the MSc data science course at Cardiff Met. I have just finished these studies as well and I use the knowledge I gained over the years every day in my job.
My role focuses heavily on data for problem solving and to improve production processes.
Through the analysis of company data, I am able to pinpoint relevant information and prepare visualisations to make day-to-day activities more efficient and solve issues for various departments and the production floor.
I feel very grateful to have had these opportunities to study and challenge myself – and hopefully the challenges are not over yet! ■