My name is Ryan, I am 15 years old and I love computers and programming! I came to now>press>play for a one-week work experience placement. Here are some thoughts and reflections on my week with them.
Out of this experience, I wanted to get a taste of the working world and an insight into how small companies work. I got more than what I wanted. The first thing that struck me when I came to now>press>play was what a really small and kind team it was (I only met two people my first day), and how effective their product was, based off all the excited faces on their promo images around their space! I could tell that they had put a lot of effort and passion into their product and that they were obviously passionate about it.
This week I attended an event with Alice at The Hackney Learning Trust. We did a presentation, and the focus of the event was on the Engagement and Mental health of Teenagers, and what English teachers and schools could do to increase engagement and decrease issues around mental health.
I did a lot of admin stuff too (spent a lot of time in excel) and went to the post office to deliver some parcels, which wasn’t unexpected because I was informed that that was going to be my job role. I was lucky enough to be able to speak to some experts in programming (courtesy of Alice) who advised me on the places I could go to develop my programming skills and gave me some practical advice too. I also sat in on one of their meetings. Lastly, I helped now>press>play move into their new office space.
This week I mostly enjoyed speaking with the experts and going to the presentation because I learned a lot in both, and in the presentation in Hackney I was able to experience one of now>press>play’s audio Experiences which was exciting and interactive and gave me a better feel of what it was like to be a child during WW2.
This week the thing I found most challenging was keeping up with all the admin work. Overall, I learned that school is WAY better than work, but I picked the right place for my work experience!