About a month ago it was finally time to say: Finished!! I handed in my dissertation and with it my final piece of work for my masters degree. I still can't believe that soon, I won't be a student anymore. It is a weird feeling to know that after 18 years, I am now officially leaving the education system and entering the working life. While at some point, I might miss some of the freedoms the student life entails, at the moment I cannot wait to start working and making use of all the knowledge I obtained during the masters and my work experience.
When reading through my first post, the thing that strikes my most is my enthusiasm and excitement about the course and the industry. Now, a year later, I don't think that I lost any of it. The masters provided me with invaluable knowledge of all different areas of publishing, ranging from editorial over marketing, sales and rights to production. Getting insights into all different departments, helped me to specify my interests, made me aware of roles that I didn't know of before, and to determine which direction I want to go in. Additionally, I think it is beneficial for whatever role I'm going to end up in to know what the other departments do and how all areas are interlinked.
The master enabled me to become part of the industry and changed my perception from an outsider's to an insider's view. Big names were matched to people, renowned publishing houses have become part of my everyday life. It seems natural to have friends working with the biggest publishers of the world.
Internships allowed me to get a glimpse at the places where the magic happens. Besides my internship with The Bookseller last November, I also had the amazing opportunity to take part in the summer internship scheme of Oxford University Press. But more about this another time.
All in all, I can highly recommend doing a masters in Publishing at one of the many universities that offer one. It does not only provide you with knowledge of the industry, but is a perfect networking opportunity. This last year also left me with new amazing friends that I would not have met would I not have made the decision to come to Cambridge.
Would I do it again? - Definitely!
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