Been a while!

 

Setup at the office in MediaCom

Since I have graduated in the summer 2016, I went back home to Walsall to catch up with close family and friends, as I couldn’t get the job I wanted in the digital industry, due to the competitive competition out there in the real world.

I continued to work in my part time job at Next, so I transferred back to a store near home. Day and night I continued to apply to various job roles that interested me and that were suited to my skill sets.

After numerous interviews, I finally made my break through in the digital industry, I got offered a job at MediaCom in Manchester, working as a Technology Assistant for the Data & Analytics team. Within 6 months of graduating I got my first job!

So I left my hometown Walsall/ Birmingham to move back up to Manchester in January 2017.

MediaCom is a global agency that has around 120 offices across the globe. They are the leading agency in Content + Connections Agency. They specialise in various areas such as Advertising, Social and SEO, Mobile, Digital, Response, Global Data Solutions, Business Science, Insights and Sports.

MediaCom client base is on a global platform, they work with various well-known brands in various sectors such as, Automotive, Retail, Sport, Leisure, Entertainment and many more.

The agency is great to work for, they have a relaxed environment with great people to work with. I been in job around 3 months and just passed my probation period, happy days!

My main responsibilities are getting code and tags out to clients to track digital advertising activities and client website use. Using various technologies to capture data on what works, what doesn’t, and where improvements can be made. As a team this gives us better data, leading to better decisions. Some of the tools I have used so far are Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager and DoubleClick Campaign Manager.

Also you get a lot of training and development on the job, so that you can deliver what is required to high standards. Certifications and training courses I have done so far while working for MediaCom are, Google Analytics for Beginners, Advanced Google Analytics, QA Studio Certified, DoubleClick Studio Certification Program, DoubleClick Rich Media Fundamentals, IPA Commercial Certificate, Google Analytics Individual Qualifications, DoubleClick Campaign Manager Fundamentals and Google Tag Manager Fundamentals.

In my personal time I am still developing myself by keeping up to date with latest trends and tools to help me perform really well.

Follow me on Twitter: @UmairYaquoob 

Connect with me on LinkedIn: Umair Yaquoob

Personal Portfolio: www.umairyaquoob.co.uk

Follow my journey, as I work up the ladder within the digital industry. Watch this space!

Manchester Talent Day

Today, I went down to Manchester Talent Day  which is event for students especially fresh graduates to see what career opportunities are out there in the digital industry. I made some very good contacts who may possibly be my future employers. Overall I was happy with the event as representatives from each digital agency care about upcoming new talent like myself.

Manchester Talent Day

Personal Development

Part of my major project for the final year of university,  I had to do a personal development report in the first term. This report consists of the development of myself as an individual over the duration of my course(BSc Website Development). Overall feedback I received from the tutor was a first grade.

The report can be viewed at:Personal Development Report

Project Meeting

Today, the students have come back to university for their final term of studies. There is about 12 weeks until the students graduate.

In the project meeting sessions, the students were discussing with their tutors about their major projects. If they had any issues with the progression with their projects.

The tutors were discussing with the students of what is required in the final report for their projects. They were giving advice and tips on how to approach the 4000 word report which is due with the project on Monday 22nd February.

There is about 6 weeks until the project is due. Watch this space!

System Thinking Organisational Resources Exam 2

The students had  a exam on Strategy and  Management of change. This exam the students had to answer one question in one hour.

Agency Ready: Live Marking

The students had an allocated slot with their tutors to receive some feedback on their portfolio site they submitted last week. This was a 15 minutes slot where the tutors check through the technical side of the site, to see whether the students have followed the assignment brief.

My meeting with my tutors went very well,  I received great feedback, there are some minor changes I need to make to my site.  If you have not seen my portfolio site, check it out! Can be accessed at: Umair Yaquoob’s  Portfolio Site.

The improved version of the site will be up soon.

User Experience Design

The squads were discussing their progress of the project. They should have done paper wireframes and paper testing last week. This week they were concentrating on the Axure wireframe version of their apps or websites,   getting their individual Axure wireframe designs tested within the members of their squads and peers outside their squads, to get feedback on their designs.

The students were introduced to another guest today named Marie Kitney, who is part of UX Design team at Numiko, an agency based in Leeds. She was going around to each squad to see their working progress of their apps and websites. Marie gave the squads some feedback, tips and advice on their projects.

Next week the squads will be concentrating on design stage of their wireframes by using Photoshop and Invision.

Here a link to my stagecoach app design using Axure. Let me know what you think. Can be accessed at: Stagecoach  App Axure Wireframes 

Systems Thinking Organisational Resources

Today the students were introduced to management of change. They were looking through the change in a organisation, examples of triggers, drivers and forces for change, barriers and resistance to change, Lewin’s force-field analysis, Lewin’s 3-step change management model, Kotter’s 8 step change model, The Change Curve (Kubler-Ross), ADKAR model (Prosci) and Kotter and Schlesinger’s six change approaches (for dealing with resistance to change).

The students have a written essay type exam next week on Thursday 26th November, duration of one hour, they are required to know about change in management as this may be one of the questions that may pop up as part of exam.

Agency Ready Submission

Today is submission of my portfolio site for first term. I was required to build a portfolio site consisting of home, about, portfolio, blog and contact.

The design concept I went for my portfolio site was parallax design with scrolling navigation effect. Web languages used to build this site was HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript / JQuery. This required me to be creative and original.

The content was thoughtfully written and displayed on the website, as well as other element such as media. In this site, I have put an creative design flare to the look of the site with illustrations and carefully thought colour scheme. Also I’ve added some animation to clickable activity to liven up the site.

The site can be accessed at: Umair Yaquoob Portfolio Site.

Let me know what you think and I hope you enjoy the site!

 

 

Coding Faster with Emmet

Coding Faster with Emmet. The first section is about introduction to Emmet. This area covers What is Emment? and Installing Emmet.