From Management Consulting to Digital Marketing.

My sophomore summer was coming up and I was torn: I wanted to go home to Cape Town, South Africa, but I needed to build up my resume with work experience. I had also just declared my majors in political science and psychology and was still figuring out exactly what I wanted to do – maybe international relations research or non-profit work.

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As soon as I looked into iXperience, I knew it would be the best way to spend my summer. The idea of spending a few weeks learning a new skill and then getting to apply it to a real-life work setting was exciting. Plus, I got to go home!

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Alex and iX friends on a sunset cruise, Cape Town 2019

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I wasn’t sure which course to settle on, but I eventually chose Management Consulting. I had learnt about the field from my boyfriend after helping him with case interviews and was curious if it would be a good fit for me as well. I get bored easily, so I loved the idea of constantly being exposed to new industries, ever-changing clients, and a fast-paced environment.

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I still remember getting my acceptance call from Michael Black from Admissions (who was slightly confused after hearing another South African accent on the other side of the line) and a few weeks later I was back in my beautiful home, Cape Town!

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On the first day of classes, I had no idea what to expect. Our teacher, Jaco Smit, was wonderful and so helpful. I never thought I would learn so many practical and useful things in just a few weeks.

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After a crash course in consulting, I had the incredible opportunity of interning for Aerobotics.

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I’ll be honest - I was uncertain of how much meaningful work I’d actually be able to do in a few short weeks, but I made more of an impact than what I (and my supervisors!) expected.

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Interestingly, the work I ended up doing was not directly related to management consulting. After chatting with the marketing director one day, she mentioned that she hadn’t had time to take a deep dive into the company’s digital marketing, particularly their Google Ads, and she asked me if I wanted to look into it. I spent the next few weeks learning all I could about digital marketing: I pored over lectures, how-to guides, and hundreds of articles to learn more about the field in order to totally restructure Aerobotic’s Google Ads account.

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The skills I learnt from the consulting class applied directly to what was doing: problem solving, creative thinking, and effective communication gave me the skills I needed to successfully tackle my project.

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After learning more about digital marketing at Aerobotics, I wanted to explore the field more; so, the next summer I applied for and was accepted to work at a company called Whole Whale that runs digital strategy for non-profits.  Just a few weeks ago, I signed for a full-time job with 3Q Digital, one of the largest and most well-known independently owned digital marketing agencies.

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There are a couple of reasons why I chose to pursue digital marketing as a full-time career.

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- Unlike traditional marketing, digital marketing is data-driven and requires a lot of number crunching, requiring strong analytical skills. I like that you are able to directly measure the impact of your strategy and the changes that you make week-to-week.

- It is also incredibly fast paced: things are changing constantly, and a skilled digital marketer has to learn constantly to keep up. If you work with an agency, you’ll get the opportunity to work with many different industries and clients. The job can serve as a creative outlet of sorts, as creative thinking is required to come up with an effective digital strategy and ad copy.

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- The industry as a whole is very flexible: all you really need is a strong internet connection, so you can do your work from anywhere in the world.

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- Aside from all of these great things, skilled digital marketers are very much in demand. Any business or cause worth their salt knows that having a digital presence is vital to success, so there is no shortage of opportunities!

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Although many agencies don’t require much digital experience for entry-level positions due to their own internal training programs, having some prior knowledge definitely helps. The new course iX is offering in digital marketing will serve as an excellent introduction to the field and give you a massive leg-up when applying to future internships and jobs.

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I’m so grateful to iX for everything I learned, and for ultimately changing my entire career trajectory. I raved about iX so much that my boyfriend ended up applying for, and working as, a teaching assistant for the consulting class in Berlin last summer!

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If you’re hesitating about going abroad with iX, hear this: no matter which course you do, you will learn more than you ever thought possible, challenge yourself, and will be exposed to so many interesting people, ideas, and projects. Whichever class you do, you will learn skills that you can apply in many different industries. It is worth every second.

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