Hey, my name is James Parker and I have just started my first year of the Business and Management workplace degree programme at Applegate marketplace. My hobbies and interests include Karate, Pixel art and everything to do with gaming although my personal favourites are video and board games. Prior to the degree course I studied English and Media Studies at A level, alongside a BTEC subsidiary diploma in ICT.

I chose to undertake the degree programme as an alternative to going to university for a few years. The course is local, it has given me the option to work towards higher education and remain in an area I'm more familiar with in terms of people and places. Although I've picked the lengthier option of the two; studying part time for 5 years instead of full time for 3 years, I believe that the extra span of time will allow me to reflect on my progress and lead me to make an accurate decision about which future I want to pursue once I complete the course.

Currently I am part of the Content Team here at Applegate; in a nutshell, we are responsible for adding copy to the Applegate website. My primary task at present is page building but I am also learning that there is much more to the work than I first anticipated! Throughout the programme I hope to learn more about how organisational behaviour can vary between businesses; comparing this course to my part-time work as a customer assistant at Tesco. So far, I've come to enjoy Applegate's much less restrictive approach to the jobs set, I am allowed to prioritise and handle most tasks in an order that I've individually laid out. Compared to the organisational behaviour enforced by Tesco, I really appreciate the freedom that Applegate offers with task management, whilst still allowing employees to call others for help when needed.

From taking part in this workplace degree programme, I hope to gain a much broader knowledge regarding the fundamentals of business and management and learn more about what happens in the background outside of the public's eye. On top of that I expect that the company's high usage of ICT will provide me with more knowledge and skills on a platform that I'm very familiar with in the first place. One shining example so far has been using an Excel spreadsheet to create a CSV file that allows a company's products to be uploaded onto the Applegate website with minimal manual work, thus creating accurate results in less time.
Overall, I hope to use the skills and knowledge available at Applegate to enhance my experience in a working-life environment. In the long run, this will improve my abilities to think creatively, independently and work well as part of a team. Furthermore, acquiring my degree on this course will help to expand the careers I can pursue in the future. With a certificate of higher education, and two management qualifications I can look forward to comfortably choosing a more advanced employment route, having had five years to decide, gain experience and continuously improve. 

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