I was introduced to a member of Access to Industry staff at a Universal Credit work event. At the time I was disabled, unemployed and struggling to find a way into work. My poor health as a teenager prevented me from finishing my higher studies and moving on to university. Since then I’d had many failed attempts at getting back into education, until I found Access to Industry.

I was told about their Access Data service, which got me on the path to working in Data Science. They supported me in completing several Data and Programming courses and I am continuing my education in Data Science.

I’d had many failed attempts at getting back into education until I found Access to Industry.

- Fiona

I also now volunteer with the University of Edinburgh helping with compiling and editing data on their collections, including adding information and images to Wikipedia.

My Access to Industry work coach has made me feel like I have hope for the future again. The one-on-one support was essential to showing me a path forward that I could handle. My hopes for the future are to get work related to Data Science or Software Development.

You can see a recent Wikipedia article that Fiona created from scratch here.

In co-operation with Data Education in Colleges and funded as part of the Data skills Gateway programme.