Amber Keats
Bootcamp Manager
I work at the University Academy 92 (UA92). We help support exceptional individuals, organisations, and businesses with the aim of fast-tracking students’ careers in areas that they will love.
I actually look after the "technology bootcamps", which support people to find their ideal jobs in STEAM, no matter what their background was before. I help people find careers they will love and that will open new doors for them.
What I love about the work I do is the fact that I get to combine my three loves, a love of learning, a love of technology, and a love of helping others do what they enjoy.
On a typical day, I am working with course participants to help them develop the skills they need for their tech careers. This work can vary from talking to them about potential roles and apprenticeships to helping them understand specific areas of technology. I am also involved in designing courses and talking to potential employers to help students land projects and jobs.
My journey has been anything but a straight line, and I love this fact! I started off at A-levels intending to go into Marine Chemistry. Due to my results, I ended up following my second choice and studying internet technologies and applications at university, where I was the only woman on my course. However, I suffered from "imposter syndrome" at this point. So, instead of going into tech, I went into banking for two years before realising I enjoyed training staff more than actually working with opening accounts and customer money. I then chose to leave banking and go back to university to study how to teach Computer Science to adults. This led me to do a couple of qualifications to teach in secondary schools and to teach English to speakers of other languages. After working for a couple of schools and colleges in the South of the UK, I decided to go and work in the Middle East, in a country called Oman. While there, I taught Information and Communications Technology (ICT) and Computer Science in a private, international school for two years. I helped the school introduce Lego Mindstorms robots and Google Classroom programs. In 2018, I came back to the UK and moved to Manchester. (I hadn't been to this area before and it was purely due to a friend being here I chose it.) Since being here, I have worked in a secondary school and a couple of private education companies, helping apprentices and career changes. Now I am working at the University Academy 92 (UA92) to help more people.
In the future, I would love to continue studying different tech and education areas as well as progress my career to areas that will allow me to help more people. Outside of work, I want to be able to travel and explore the world and the UK more, seeing other cultures, so that I can broaden my own horizons.
I am lucky in that what I do for work I enjoy and find a lot of fun. Outside of work, I enjoy reading, learning, walking, and staying active including dancing salsa and bachata. I also enjoy traveling as much as possible to learn about different histories and cultures from the UK and abroad. I enjoy watching a lot of action and superhero movies with friends and family.
"Never give up, never surrender." ~ the catchphrase of Commander Taggart from the film 'Galaxy Quest'