Two years ago I had been working at the same place for 8 years and a kind of boredom caught up with me. I was wondering if I could make some changes to my daily routine. One of the options was to learn something new. Indeed, I had a surplus of free time then, but that changed very soon.

The adventure called Content Strategy started in October 2019 and suddenly my free time has gone☺. I have to admit that I applied for the study without even exactly knowing what it was about. As the study was conducted by the University’s department of media and design, areas of interest to me, the whole concept seemed quite innovative & appealing.

At that time, I hadn't even known that the field of Content Strategy existed at all. Because of all the question marks over my head I decided to do a more thorough research about this master program. At 1st glance I was attracted by the possibility of studying part-time, combining work and study, and the possibility of meeting international students and lecturers.

Now, at the end of my studies, after completing all the exams, I would like to highlight 3 main points that I found interesting for the Content Strategy practice:

• Content Strategy is an evolving field – roles are not strictly defined

Content strategy is really a discipline that is evolving and there is an open possibility of working in different areas, specializing in different parts of the expertise. The range of jobs includes those from backend to frontend content strategy practices. The same jobs are very often defined by different titles and having a bigger picture can help a student of content strategy to find his or her place in the field.

• A practice that is applicable on a wide range of different fields

The next thing that I've found interesting is that the practice of content strategy can be applied to different fields, to almost all activities and practices which are directly related to creating relationships and interaction with users or customers. In this regard, I found it interesting that it would be possible for me to apply parts of the practice to the current activities I was engaged with and my current work - the field of culture and art.

• Teamwork is crucial

One of the most important segments in creating any strategy or developing a new digital product is teamwork. There are really many areas that should been includeed and it's not possible for an individual to get to know all of them. Therefore, it is extremely important to cooperate with others, talk a lot, exchange opinions in order to reach an adequate solution and align it with users or customers’ needs.

Content strategy is, as I emphasized earlier, a discipline that is evolving and there are different segments of practice in which a person can build a career. As I have a background in fine arts and visual media while attending the study I was reflecting a lot about what part of content strategy could be of most interest to me. I was constantly trying to find out how to connect previously acquired knowledge of my 1st master degree with the upcoming one. In the end, I realized that digital media follow the same rules in designing both textual (linguistic) content and visual oriented content. There is always a user research that should be undertaken and after that, an appropriate user experience should be provided in order to serve the right experience for users or customers. 

In this article I have set forth some thoughts that were and still are on my mind while reflecting how to put into practice all that content strategy knowledge acquired from leading authorities like Rahel Anne Bailie, Kristina Halvorson, Mike Atherton, Carrie Hane, Deane Barker and many others. I'm truly grateful to the staff of FH University for the given opportunity to learn from the best professionals.

After finishing all the exams, I have to admit that it was really exhausting to be a full-time working student and I’m somehow proud of myself (my mother too ☺) for submitting all the exams in time. So, now I just need to finish my master’s thesis and I will be a proud owner of another master’s degree. And finally, I hope I will find my place in the field and that it will be possible to apply all this newly acquired knowledge in practice.