Emma Walker

I finished school in 2006, and started my traineeship with Visual Obsession in January 2007. I completed my traineeship in November 2009.

Throughout my traineeship and to date, I have learnt numerous things such as; animation, graphic design, video editing, office administration and reception duties, project management, basic coding, and some parts of website development.

Whilst at school, I did complete a lower level certificate. And I understand how difficult it is going from the school environment to the workplace environment. I feel that is has been very beneficial completing my traineeship in the workplace environment, rather than going through University or TAFE. I have always found that I’m able to retain more information through ‘on the job’ training rather than theory (i.e. text books). I have been able to learn quicker, easier and better when under the pressure of working to real life deadlines and the demands from actual clients in the work industry.

My current role at Visual Obsession is Office Administrator, and I work with students that come into Visual Obsession for work experience. I see how they struggle in applying the knowledge they’ve learnt to the industry standards.

My suggestion is if you’re looking to complete a traineeship, if possible, complete it in a work place. You will learn and retain information much better when under the pressure to get things right. In a work place it’s not just you, you are working with a team and everyone learns to work together.

Instead of only learning the information relevant to your traineeship, you learn so many other things that you wouldn’t learn in a classroom.