Victoria Wotherspoon (39) lives in Basel, Switzerland, with her husband and two daughters (Juliet, 6, and Dorothy, 3). She previously taught languages at secondary schools and now has a job teaching STEM subjects in an engaging way. Victoria was a stay at home mother when she started the course but with her oldest starting school was keen to start working again. She decided to update her skills to support her move back into the workplace. Here’s her story.
“My initial thought when I saw the course pop up on my friend’s Facebook feed was; ‘Well that’s not for me’. Then I thought about it again and thought, why not? I’d been employing ostrich tactics about digital for a while, sticking my head in the sand and hoping it would go away. I’d also got all-consumed by parenting (as is the way!) and having been out of the workplace for a few years, felt a bit lost as to where to go next.
“Before reading about the course I hadn’t considered the professional uses of social media or the importance of digital tools in the workplace, and decided I should master it rather than be intimidated by it. Also, as a teacher and a parent it’s important to keep learning, especially if your kids will be growing up in a digitally advanced age and using it in their daily lives.
“Since completing the course, I’ve become a lot more confident about using digital work tools such as Slack and Trello and about my own abilities to learn again and take on something new - the words coding and artificial intelligence no longer fill me with fear! I loved the project, which pulled a lot of the elements we learned into a real-life project collecting, analysing and presenting back research findings. I no longer feel like I’m getting left behind the digital world, and I’ve started looking for opportunities to put my skills into practice. The course definitely opened up a world of possibilities.
“As soon as I graduated I started two new roles volunteering for local not-for-profit children’s organisations, which came about because I was more open to opportunities.
“Doing the course gave me the confidence to say; “Yes, I can do that”. It also reignited my bug for lifelong learning. The social media lessons were my favourite so I then signed up for another course with Digital Mums to learn more about social media marketing.”
Admissions for our Back To Work Bootcamp are currently closed, however you can join our waiting list here.
