A youtuber? That is a thing which seemed to be a pie in the sky.

I was

When I started my YouTube channel, I didn’t expect much from it. It was just a hobby, something to
keep me happy and creative in my spare time. Now I can look back and think: “that was a pretty good
call”.

Initially, I didn’t really see it as a career.

Balancing YouTube and School

Being a student, you might wonder how I manage to balance filming, editing, uploading and everything
else being a YouTuber involves along with all my schoolwork – but for the most part I’ve got the right
balance.

I’m going into third year soon and for my project I’ll be making a game for a whole year. This is why I
love having a relatively small, but loyal base of subscribers: I can update them on my progress using
videos and live streams, and really get them involved. So, my YouTube channel and my progress as a
student are quite merged, which makes things a lot easier.

However, there have definitely been a few times I’ve struggled to get my assignments in on time
because I’ve been too in the flow of making videos. I can’t help it! Sometimes what I love most about
being a YouTuber is the pure passion and adrenaline it makes me feel. I can be making fairly standard,
sit-down, chatty videos one minute and then the next thing I know I get an amazing idea out of
nowhere, a flash of inspiration which I just HAVE to film right now. I find that buzz quite addictive!

I’ve been told by my lecturers that I could get a first if I really apply myself, but to me getting a first
would probably mean being very good at doing what I’m told to do. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t rebel,
but I see each assignment as a brief and I get creative with it and see what I can do to push myself. I
don’t really see it as a big deal if I miss out on getting a first because of YouTube – it means more to me
to get a first for pushing boundaries, rather than doing what I know is easy. I don’t mind losing marks for
taking risks and doing things in a slightly abnormal way. Actually, my risk-taking approach paid off with
one of my assignments, as for three-months I worked on a virtual reality game – it was hard work but I
was determined to do it, and I got a first for that assignment in the end.

YouTube has also meant that I’ve managed to get myself out there in the public and test out ideas. I’d
rather be working my hardest to stay networked, to stay online, to stay talking to companies, and stay
pushing my creativity and thinking outside the box, than to stifle it all and tick all the lecturers’ boxes to
make sure I get a first.