Tell us about your career.
After two years as web developer and four years as lead developer, I was promoted to Web Project Manager of the IONIS Education Group, a position I have been holding for the past five years. My company is the leader of private higher education in France. We own 25 brands of private engineering and business schools which account for 25,000 students, 2,500 teachers and 65,000 alumni in 13 French cities along with campuses in Brussels, Barcelona, Berlin and Geneva. I manage a team of twenty web experts who oversee the digital communication of all our brands. This includes web design, web development, SEO, SEA, user experience, community management, online payment, emailing, motion design, traffic management, CRM and a bunch of other digital projects for our schools and students.
What skills have made the biggest impact in your career?
The capacity to learn new technologies and new methodologies is the primary skill one needs to work in the ever-changing digital world. It quickly became a habit when I was studying at Napier. As students, we had a 24/7 access to first class equipment and the total support from our professors to explore new tech for our projects. The Multimedia Systems curriculum had a great balance between design, audio, video and programming which laid the path for me to work on web projects before the Internet became the powerful industry it is today.
All the skills I learned at Napier now help me collaborate easily with all the talents in my team, whether I need to speak UI with a designer or data security with a developer. As a foreign student, being able to work in English with people from all over the world was the most efficient way to learn a second language. Being fluent made a great difference throughout my career and has opened a lot of doors worldwide.
What advice would you give to students or recent graduates?
My advice for students or recent graduates is to always be curious and never stop exploring new things. What you learn today will be irrelevant tomorrow. This does not mean what you learn today is useless, quite the opposite. The more you learn, the faster you’ll be learning new things. And if you know how to do something well, stop and learn how to do it differently with the latest technology available. This way, you will always be prepared and on top of things during your career.