Ten10 Academy training diary: Matt McNichol

The Ten10 Academy welcomes people from every background and level of experience and serves as the first step towards a new career as a tech consultant. We could talk until we’re blue in the face about how great our training is, but we wanted to share someone’s personal story with you.

Matt McNichol joined us in February 2025 and was kind enough to share his journey through our training, from day one, right through to joining a client team. We hope this shows everyone – especially those of you considering joining our next Ten10 Academy cohort – what it’s like to take that bold step into the world of IT.

Joining the Ten10 Academy

Last year, I was unsure of what I wanted to do after graduating with an architecture degree. The plans I had at the beginning of university no longer appealed to me, so I searched for another path. That’s when I applied to Ten10.

Finding people who wanted to build upon my existing skills and open the door into a new industry gave me a lot of optimism for the future. Over the first couple of weeks in the Leeds academy, I met people who mirrored my experiences and had their own stories to tell. Meeting new people is always a joy, and together, we learned core skills which allowed us to branch out into specific areas of tech which appealed to us.

I had a much stronger aptitude for leadership and teamworking skills than I imagined, so I went down the Change Management training stream. Here, I learned how to manage relationships with stakeholders, find unique solutions to problems, and I delivered a successful service for a mock client. It wasn’t all smooth sailing – I made some crucial errors in my approach to stakeholder management, which were valuable lessons (special thanks to our tutors Craig Booth and Callum Prasser for their superb acting skills during the training).

Wrapping up academy training, I knew where my strengths and weaknesses lay, and I found new goals to pursue in tech. I wanted to work towards a job where I could use my existing people skills, while still being involved in the technical side of things so I could use what I’d learned in Leeds. Now was the time to direct my own learning towards this end.

Further qualifications

I decided to pursue a Scrum qualification. I’d learned of its universal applicability in core training, and I wanted to understand it more deeply so I could apply it to client work or fit right into an existing Scrum framework in the future. I studied the official documentation, read the Scrum guide, watched lectures on YouTube, and completed practice exams.

I also utilised the Ten10 community for my learning: I found colleagues’ notes and advice on the Ten10 Knowledge Base, I asked my old tutors for help planning my study, and I scheduled calls with my buddy who uses Scrum in her client office – shoutout to Yun Chen!

I managed to pass the exam with a 95% mark. Now I have a qualification and skills which I can use throughout my career. Since then, I’ve passed on my notes and advice to others who are also pursuing a Scrum qualification.

Landing my first client role

Shortly after this, I was told I was being put forward for a client and considered for a position as an AI practitioner for a client in the public sector. I hadn’t expected an opportunity so soon, but the Account Management team made sure I understood the role and helped me prepare. During the interview, I spoke about my experiences in the Ten10 Academy – much like I’ve done here – and highlighted the key skills which would make me an effective team member. They seemed to be looking for someone with the soft skills I’d cultivated, so the whole interview went very smoothly.

A couple of days later – on my birthday, actually – I was told I’d been successful in the interview. This role was exactly what I was aiming for: a position with a focus on teamworking and soft skills, while also being intertwined with technical processes (the exciting new industry of AI, no less)!

Since being told the good news, Ten10 moved quickly to create a training plan for me and my new colleagues in our new positions. My last few weeks have been spent studying for the AI-900 exam, which I’ve now passed.

At the beginning of this journey, I never thought I’d be where I am so quickly. I’ve made a hell of a career jump, but Ten10 has padded the landing. Now, I’m looking forward to what the future holds!