"English 394 was one of the best classes I took as far as career preparation is concerned. As part of this course, I completed an internship for a Provo-based startup. The class also covered many forms of professional writing, as well as how to make a successful transition into the professional world."
I graduated from BYU in April 2017, and I immediately began working at Adobe as an associate content editor. My time at BYU was extremely important in helping me land this job, and all my classes had a part in making it possible.
First and foremost, my editing job at the Religious Studies Center, coupled with the editing minor, were the two most important things in helping me get my current job. The editing minor prepared me with all the technical tools related to copy and substantive editing, and the RSC gave me the experience I needed to really apply those tools and build relationships. Both were invaluable, especially since my job is primarily editing. The mentors I had in the editing program and at the RSC—Devan Jensen, Marv Gardner, Mel Thorne, and Jacob Rawlins—truly helped me learn the skills I needed for this job. At Adobe, I do both large and small edits across Adobe’s enterprise services: Adobe Experience Cloud, Adobe Document Cloud, and Adobe Creative Cloud for enterprise. I mainly work with long-form articles, but I also do smaller edits for emails, web pages, social media, blogs, and more.
But like I said, while editing is my primary role, it isn’t my only one. The other side of my job here is writing. This is where my English background really comes in handy. My English literature classes were phenomenal in helping me develop sound writing techniques, strong research skills, and keen analysis methods. They gave me the foundation I needed to do this job well because it was there that I learned how to ground my arguments in evidence and logic, but to make them emotional and persuasive. At Adobe, I have written and am currently writing long-form marketing articles. In these pieces, I do the same thing—I find solid evidence for my arguments and then tie them into an emotional, thought-provoking story.
Finally, English 394 was one of the best classes I took as far as career preparation is concerned. As part of this course, I completed an internship for The Biz Games, a Provo-based startup. The class also covered many forms of professional writing, as well as how to make a successful transition into the professional world. These experiences helped me get acquainted with the professional world, which in turn helped me know how to act within it. That class helped me sharpen up my résumé and job-search skills, which in turn led to several great interviews at Qualtrics, Nu Skin, Blade HQ, ACH Fulfillment, Apiary Fund, and AboveTraining.com; interviews and an internship offer from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for their web and social media team; several interviews and a job offer from dōTERRA for an SEO writer position; and several interviews and a better job offer from Adobe for my current position.
I’m grateful for my time at BYU and for the experience and knowledge I gained while I was there. I’ll forever be indebted to my teachers and mentors there, and I wholeheartedly affirm that the English major, especially when coupled with the editing minor, is incredible marketable and valuable in the workforce.