Interning at Deryn

When I chose Cardiff University as my first choice for university, I did so because I wanted to be close to an active parliament. That was important to me because I’m not just interested in politics as an area of academic study, but because I want to learn about how it works in practice.

With that having been said, the greatest insights to my academic career have been gained through working at Deryn - they have a wealth of knowledge that can only be obtained through experience and that you won’t find in any text book or journal article.

When I applied for my internship at Deryn through Cardiff University- I, like so many other students, was looking for a way out of the monotony of retail. Inflexible shift work and lack of mental stimulation had become unbearable, and so I seized the opportunity as it arrived and I’ve not looked back since. I’ve gone from attending the fitting rooms to attending political conferences; from picking up clothes from the shop floor to picking up exciting new stats that I can use to create compelling interactive infographics.

I feel proud of the quality of work that I have helped to produce, such as the Deryn Dashboard, which has helped me to hone my skills in design, data manipulation and interpretation and research. These skills would have otherwise been left underdeveloped. It’s not just about finding information and directly relaying it.

Working here, I’ve learnt where to look for information, how to judge whether statistics are useful and relevant or show trends, how to translate that information in a more visual way that makes the value of that information more accessible to the people who need it. This is just a small part of the work that Deryn is always doing, and that I am fortunate enough to contribute to.

The most valuable thing I will take away from the Deryn experience is that it is all built on teamwork, collaboration and innovation. I’ve recognised that they set a bar for standards that must always be reached - nothing is done half-heartedly.

I have worked for many businesses in the past of different sizes and from different sectors, but none have the attitude towards innovation and delivering the best for their clients as Deryn has.