Tennille

When I finished school, I enrolled in a Bachelor of Biomedical Science. It went terribly. My grades were like a randomiser had picked them. I was too immature to know it then, but it was a bad fit for me. I did do well in the engineering maths subject.

Moving on… I did some administration-type jobs. Through an odd series of events (a story for another time), I worked for a law firm that employed me as a conveyancing paralegal. I knew nothing about property law, so they taught me the skills to succeed. I loved being able to help clients experience the smoothest transactions I could. It is a very stressful experience to buy or sell a property, and the paperwork is staggering. Proper assistance makes a real difference to client satisfaction.

After my husband and I decided to extend our family, one of my previous bosses called me and asked if I would like to become the bookkeeper for their law firm. I decided that bookkeeping sounded like a good move for someone who wanted to be able to work part-time. I set myself up as a contractor and completed a Diploma in Accounting so that I understood how to be a good bookkeeper. I also found a few other clients and did basic bookkeeping for them, too. Over time, our child got older, and I worked more often while he was in primary school. This included doing some conveyancing, general administration, precedent creation and maintenance for the law firm I was a bookkeeper for.

Once our child finished primary school, I realised that bookkeeping was not my passion. I had a look around at careers I could transition into. I found data science. It has the maths I have always enjoyed, and it is complicated enough to be enjoyable, challenging and fun. I was lucky to find an online Bachelor of Computer Science with a Data Science and Artificial Intelligence major at Griffith University. I have been studying part-time online for the last few years.

My studies allow me to feel challenged and accomplished while also being able to co-parent our child with my husband. We feel that children benefit from their parents’ time and attention. Studying online has gifted me with the ability to be home to see our child grow into the adult we can see he could become. I am very grateful for the time with our child, and I am also relieved that adulthood is approaching.

It was a risk for someone with my background as a paralegal and bookkeeper to move into such an unfamiliar area with all its new jargon and concepts. If nothing else, I am adaptable, and I look forward to seeing if I can meld the experience and knowledge I gained in my previous career with my shiny new skills.