Hi, I’m Fin, a final year History undergraduate who worked as a writer and media intern for TechForge Media part-time alongside my degree during my final term.
I applied for the SME Internship Scheme after writing for the Epigram student newspaper during my first term of final year. Having thoroughly enjoyed the experience, I decided to take my writing to the next step by self-sourcing a paid role with a Bristol-based company.
Considering writing internships are rare, and paid ones especially so, the opportunity the internship scheme provided was invaluable in enabling me to develop a number of key employability skills whilst still being paid for my efforts.
About Techforge
TechForge Media is a publishing company and event organiser focused on the enterprise applications of cutting-edge technologies. With eight dedicated news sites and content reaching over six million technology professionals, my assigned role of writing for their blockchain-focused site (The Block) was certainly a step up from the more relaxed and independent approach I took with Epigram.
The role
During the course of my internship, I was given a weekly schedule of tasks to work on, which helped structure each week. My tasks included:
- Writing regular articles on the latest blockchain news (50+ after fourteen weeks)
- Managing online content and improving SEO scores
- Planning and conducting interviews with figures from the blockchain industry
- Proposing ideas for original feature-length articles
One of my main challenges during the internship was the step-up in time management compared to writing for Epigram, where I could finish articles (mostly) at my own pace. The need for multiple articles per day was daunting at first but proved a great test of my suitability for the pressure of working in a publisher’s office or newsroom environment. Having my editor to contact over Skype whenever I had any issues was also a great help.
Outcomes
I really enjoyed getting stuck in with writing from day one and the independence given to me in researching for articles and developing my own features. Seeing my articles being published each day and looking at which were gaining the most views and comments was really motivating and rewarding.
I am incredibly thankful to TechForge Media for the opportunity to intern with them and how welcoming their team of staff were. I am also very grateful to the University’s Career Service for the support they gave me in applying for the scheme.
Apply today!
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