After first stepping through Rawnet's doors as part of the Rawnet Academy, one of our most recent joiners Toby felt he had found an environment where he could grow professionally. Rawnet Academy was a stepping stone in experiencing digital agency life, and offered Toby valuable experience, fresh ambition and a passion for learning. We are so excited to have Toby with us full-time now, as a QA Tester and in this article, Toby reflects on how his early exposure to agency life with Rawnet shaped his career path and now how Rawnet continues to support his professional development.
Role: QA Tester
Joined: April 2026
Previous Experience: Rawnet Academy
"I had to get myself involved within this team"
Q. What first brought you to Rawnet for your work experience?
I am very grateful to have the connections I have within this industry and managed to land the chance to do my college work experience here at Rawnet. I knew it was the perfect opportunity to get some real agency experience and tied in perfectly with the course I was doing at the time.
Q. How would you describe your experience with Rawnet Academy?
My experience within the Rawnet Academy was everything I could have asked for when doing work experience. I got the chance to sit down with different team members from all departments and spend time seeing how they work and what the day to day is like for them. I also got the chance to sit in on some meetings, whether they were internal or client facing, which was really good to experience. All of this set me up for expectations working in an agency in the future. All aspects of the agency I feel were covered and it helped me get an understanding of how a day in life is like here.
Q. How do you feel your Rawnet Academy experience influenced your career path, goals and ambitions?
I feel like the Rawnet Academy helped me realise that a workplace like Rawnet was somewhere I wanted to involve myself in, the experience it gave me allowed me to see what an agency was like and the flow of how things work and get done. I think it was almost like the final confirmation I needed to comfortably say I wanted to work in the tech industry.
Q. What made you decide to return to Rawnet years later?
I think the main thing that made me return to Rawnet all these years later was hearing the incredible projects they were working on, seeing the same people still being here from when I did my work experience and knowing that team morale was very high. I had to get myself involved within this team and I knew it was the next step in my career and taking things to the next level.
Q. How did it feel returning as a full time team member, rather than a work experience student?
I was over the moon when I heard I landed the position, I knew I now had the chance to get a deeper understanding of the business and getting to know everyone a lot better. Getting stuck into projects and clients and taking my experience to another level. It was great!
" I feel like the opportunity I have here at Rawnet will take my career to the next level when it comes to automation within QA."
Q. Do you feel like your previous experience here helped you in any way when settling into your new role?
Absolutely, I think the feeling of familiarity was present and that allowed me to converse with people better and get up to speed with systems better as I had used them previously within the Rawnet Academy.
Q. What have you found the most challenging about returning?
I wouldn’t say anything about returning has been challenging, it’s the normal thing I’d expect from onboarding into a full time position such as learning the platforms we use in a more detailed way.
Q. How do you feel you have grown since returning?
I feel like my knowledge on AI tools and the way to use these to help progress my role has grown massively since joining the team. I previously had no experience within this field of AI and AI tools, so now I have an understanding of how to use them correctly within a working environment. I feel like the opportunity I have here at Rawnet will take my career to the next level when it comes to automation within QA also.
Q. What excites you about being a part of Rawnet and the future of your career?
Progression is the thing that excites me the most, seeing these tools that are at hand and seeing different ways things can be achieved is very exciting. I feel like being in this environment will help me gather the tools and knowledge I need to take this QA position to the next level and progress into different sectors of QA.
Q. What advice would you give to students considering work experience?
I would say ‘Don’t hesitate to apply’ - if you are studying tech whether that be software engineering or computing in general. This is the best place to get real raw digital agency experience and the opportunity they give you allows you to determine your future. I did it and have been wanting to come back here ever since and now I'm here! Couldn’t have asked for a better work experience.
