Gemma Louise Nangle

My Graduate Story

My name is Gemma, and I graduated from the University of Birmingham with an undergraduate degree in Modern Languages. Today, I work as a technical writer at Benevity, a company dedicated to providing software solutions that facilitate corporate social responsibility and employee engagement. In my role, I focus on writing detailed and helpful articles for our help centers, ensuring that users understand and utilise our software to its fullest potential. My work significantly enhances user experience and satisfaction. Before this, I was involved in content and copywriting within Benevity, which laid a strong foundation for my technical writing responsibilities. I also contribute to the translation process, ensuring our content is accessible on a global scale, and work on AI-driven projects to streamline internal processes. A recent project involved enhancing the registration process for nonprofits, improving their experience with our platform and supporting their missions effectively.

A Day in My Life

A typical day involves collaborating with different teams to ensure our content aligns with our software's capabilities and our users’ needs. I spend my day writing and editing articles, helping out with UX writing for our software, and occasionally working on translations and AI projects. Each article I work on has to make our complex software understandable to everyone, taking into account accessibility considerations.

My Journey to Benevity

After graduating from Birmingham with a degree in Modern Languages, I moved to Catalunya where I lived with families while working as a conversation assistant. This helped me to learn the basics of the Catalan language. After 3 years of teaching, I transitioned into the field of content writing and copywriting seeking a role that better utilised my language skills and ability to communicate effectively. The job application process for my later jobs was fairly straightforward, focusing on showcasing my writing skills and ability to adapt to different styles and formats. For my first copywriting job, I also did a course in SEO and digital marketing, as this job required that I start equipped with the basics, although they also trained me further. As I moved to Spain before December 2020, visa considerations were not a concern during my initial job search as I was protected by the withdrawal agreement. However, I did have to go through various bureaucratic processes after relocating, including obtaining the NIE, getting registered with social security and the CAP (public healthcare), and obtaining the empadronament.

My Birmingham Experience

The standout aspect of my course was my year abroad, which not only allowed me to immerse myself fully in different cultures but also helped me forge lasting friendships. This experience significantly expanded my worldview and showed me that there are numerous life paths available beyond the UK.

Birmingham's Impact

My course in Modern Languages was instrumental in developing my communication skills, critical thinking, and understanding of cultural nuances, all of which are crucial in my current role. The rigorous training in multiple languages and translation tasks prepared me to handle complex content creation and adaptation in a global context. Studying three languages, including Russian from scratch, also gave me the tools necessary to gain conversational fluency in Catalan fairly quickly, enabling me to integrate into the Catalan community in a way that many of my friends have struggled to match.

My Achievements

My most significant achievement during my course was learning Russian from scratch and undertaking level 1 Ukrainian as an extracurricular activity.
I'm also proud of the fact that I finished my degree and graduated alongside my friends, despite facing numerous personal challenges, including an anxiety disorder, pneumonia, and the loss of several friends and family members. Succeeding in spite of these challenges increased my resilience, something which has come in handy since relocating and living in a separate country to my family.

Advice for Students

• Be open to diverse opportunities, even those that might not strictly align with your degree.
• Continuously hone and adapt your skills to meet the evolving demands of the job market.
• Build a professional network through internships, workshops, and social media platforms like LinkedIn.

Embrace the unknown and don't be afraid to relocate to unfamiliar places. Language barriers are surmountable, but the experiences and memories you'll gain are invaluable.