life is too short to give your time to a company that gives no time to you.

Mastery is for You

My experience as an intern Web Developer in Manchester

This post is a written version of a talk I give. Slides here. If you would like me to give this talk contact me here.

This is a sad story of how my first job in web development treated me, and what I learnt from it. Self-improvement and the mastery of skills trump anything a company can offer you.

The year is 2015. I am 20 years old and I love front end development. I spend my time freelancing around my degree. A break from academia sounds like a good idea so I start looking for industrial experience. I applied to small web agencies in Manchester.

I got a job.

I recognise that not all agencies are bad places to work. There is a reputation that agencies take advantage of young staff for low pay. This agency fit that reputation snugly.

I want to recommend a book, Start With Why. This book is about focusing on why you do things over what you do.

• Why — I want to grow my own success and earn the respect of others in my community.
• How — I surround myself with people I learn from and respect, and who treat me equally.
• What — I want to build my own agency, and in the short-term learn from working at an agency.