Podcast Interviews with UVU Graduates

For my podcast, I decided to focus on interviewing past graduates of UVU’s web design and development program to see what they thought of the program, the in’s-and-out’s of school work, what it was like to graduate, the trials of job hunting, and finally what it was like to be employed.

The interviews were fun to conduct. Rather than feeling just like a question and answer session, the conversation turned into a friendly banter of-sorts, with each of us sharing stories and commenting on different subjects.

For my first episode, I interview Shelly Gardner and I learned a lot from the mistakes I made. I was constantly interjecting with “uh-huh’s” and “yeahs” into the conversation, as well as cutting her off to share something that I thought she was meaning to say. Additionally there was a whole five minutes that I had to cut out because we got on a topic that didn’t necessarily fit with the rest of the narrative.

The second interview, with Kevin Acosta went more smoothly. Instead of interrupting I gave him plenty of time to answer questions and to follow up on things that he had said. With Kevin’s, there were a lot less awkward pauses that I had to edit out.

In the end Shelly gave the greatest tips for students in the program. That of keeping a work journal to monitor your progress. This seems especially helpful for student’s, since they will be able to look back on their work and see how they have improved.

One of the most frustrating aspects of the interview was discussing job hunting. It took Shelly and Kevin about 6 months of rejections before finally landing a job. The biggest frustration that I’m unsure how to deal with is graduates being told their school work doesn’t count by potential employers. It seems absurd to think that for a junior position employer’s are expecting school work plus having already been working in the field for so many years.

Overall preparing and putting the podcast together was a fun assignment that helped me to better see different path’s that can be taken with digital media. It’s not just fixing Wordpress websites, but a robust field where student’s can learn and try out different focuses are areas of expertise.