Uptree

Wezi’s Uptree journey started in 2018 when one of his friends shared the platform with him. He used the Uptree platform to learn about the finance industry, available opportunities for sixth form students and the type of opportunities he could apply for once he finished his studies.

Initially, Wezi explored accountancy related opportunities through Uptree but then discovered his passion for technology.

“I had a work experience programme with KPMG via Uptree. I was just trying to get into accountancy … but then … I realized accountancy didn’t connect to me as much as I thought it would do initially. I just thought I may as well pivot to tech because it's something that could showcase my impact a lot more visually because I'm a visual learner.”

Attending Uptree events helped Wezi identify which companies were out there and encouraged him to visualise himself working in these environments.

“Sometimes it's quite hard to visualize what type of opportunities or employers you can apply to and actually get into. Especially for someone going to a state school and if you are from certain backgrounds…. Sometimes seeing a lot of people that might be from your area in London or from a similar background to you that are mentally glued on can sometimes encourage you to find people that are doing similar things. Maybe it's possible to break down some of these barriers. I might look at the news, I might be like, ‘wow, this is quite a fancy company to work for’ and actually see people that work there, it's just kind of just like, ‘OK, it's doable’.”

Hearing from different employees at Uptree events helped Wezi explore the different career routes available to him.

“You're able to see that these are actual people that you can speak with, but then also just being able to hear, for example, what their journeys are or like how they got into the industry or some of the different perspectives that they may be thinking of that you maybe probably didn’t consider. For example, a lot of people might have studied computer science at A-Levels but might have never considered the fact that you could go into an apprenticeship route, or some people that do law wouldn’t have considered that you could do a solicitor apprenticeship. It's a different perspective that you're actually being able to hear from when you connect with the people that you meet.”

Wezi studied computer science and university and is now on the Technical Graduate Programme with CGI, doing software engineering. He credits Uptree with helping him find the right pathway. He also takes part in social impact work on the side.