I first went to university immediately after studying software development at college at National Diploma level. I chose to study multimedia computing at Coventry University, and after just four weeks I dropped out, without telling any of the course leaders my attitudes towards the course. I did not realise the options available to me to change course and was a bit naughty and continued to receive my loan for the rest of the year.

I then went to work full time in a bar and was empowered as an assistant manager, with the promise of a pay rise to follow in due course. I waited and waited, put the hours in, and started to resent my position. It was like they were taking me for a ride, working a manager’s job without the reward. It was also this time when the bar started to not perform financially, so we experienced a cut in the workforce to save money. The knock on effect was that it was nearly always understaffed and it became an unpleasant place to work.

However my time working in bars exposed me to the live music scene in Coventry. I started running my own live music events and started DJing in a few different clubs and bars (mainly for beer). I had found my love for music, and that I would like to turn this passion into a career.

I was too late to apply via the normal UCAS procedure and by luck was speaking to an employee from Coventry University about what courses they offered, he advised me that there is a course that combines managing creative’s (such as musicians) and event management. He then gave me his number on a napkin, I rang up the next day at 11.00 and by 13.00 I was enrolled on the Creative Industries Management course at Coventry University through the clearing process.

University is really for me, I love it! I am achieving good marks, making new contacts and earning a qualification in something I have a passion for. Not many people are studying a degree that they are actually passionate about, so I consider myself lucky.  Yes, I will be in masses of debt by the time I graduate, but it means I won’t be stuck behind a bar, with a pickled liver pretending to be passionate about making cocktails or pretending I care about how a restaurant table should be setup! Although shush...as I am still working there part time!