OK, I’ve been working in the online world for way longer than I’d like to remember…

I’ve been taking a career break after having my little girl. She is now 4 (where did that time go) so will be starting Reception in September.

During this time I have been running Quirky Purple  and it’s been a blast! It has allowed me to use my creative side and made lots of lovely handmade goodies but also to keep my online skills up to date by running a WordPress site, Etsy, Folksy, eBay, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter sites. Because it’s a micro-business and there’s just me, I can flex the work up and down and even close my shop when I need to. OK, it doesn’t make a lot of money, but its fun and keeps my skills ticking over.

Now, ticking over – there’s a problem.

I decided last year that I needed to get cracking on updating my skills if I wanted to be properly ‘work ready’ by September. I spent a lot of time going to open days and looking up courses. I was accepted on another MSc (I’ve already got one in Networked Information Engineering) but unfortunately the university couldn’t seem to get to grips with my need to know in advance when I would need to be physically in the university so I could arrange childcare.

Anyway, I finally came across Digital Mums. They run a 6 month course on Strategic Social Media Management. Not only do they understand that we sometimes have to work around our children but they actively promote #workthatworks and flexible working. The really cool bit is that you work with a real life client though the course and run a real social media campaign for them.

So far it’s been brilliant starting to getting back up to speed in the fast changing online world. It’s also very cool working with like-minded people again!