This week one of my friends asked me to have a read over his latest university essay in the hope of some tips to help boost his mark. He’s studying the same web design and development course that I finished a year ago. He’s in his first year and the essay was on social media and how people use their online presence to influence the way they are perceived.

I agreed to have a read over it in order to help my friend. However I was also interested in reading his work, seeing how it compared to my early essays and also to see how useful I would be in assisting him.

I was poor at university. I used to dread essays, mainly due to the fact that I didn’t obtain any satisfaction from them whatsoever. I realise that writing is a fundamental part of any university course but I just couldn’t seem to enjoy any aspect of it. In addition my grammar, spelling and punctuation was very poor.

Things seem to have changed since I graduated and I’ve really warmed to writing and reading. I started blogging a few months after university and I’ve become quite passionate about writing and sharing my thoughts and opinions with others. My writing isn’t amazing but I am far better than my university years and I seem to be continuously improving.

His essay wasn’t bad but I managed to offer lots of key points and added comments to almost every paragraph he wrote. After reading a few lines it immediately struck me how far I have come since university. It was fairly simple for me to notice parts that could be improved, and then offer sound advice on how to rectify them. Spelling mistakes and poor English also stood out like a sore thumb. Overall his essay wasn’t bad and I think he would get a reasonable grade for a first year student. I was just happy to help out.

It’s often easy to become frustrated with progression and I often find myself thinking whether or not I’m improving. Reading and correcting this essay made me realise just how far I have come since those early days at university. It really did put things into perspective and it made me feel quite proud. I would encourage anyone who is feeling a bit down about their progress to have a look at some work they did last year, or the year before.

I guess one day I might come to a stage where I’m struggling to improve on some things. If that were the case I would just look to improve on something else. The great thing about being a web designer is that there is so much to learn and so many different topics to cover.

Last week I signed up to treehouse and I was amazed at what it has to offer. There are courses on allsorts ranging from code, to design and even the basics of running a business. It’s a very reasonable $25 a month and you are able to cancel or pause your membership at any time. I would thoroughly recommend it for anyone who wants to learn more!

That’s all for now!

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