Melissa Irvine - Linguistics graduate
Melissa followed her passion for Linguistics from undergraduate to postgraduate studies and has honed critical research skills that serve her in all aspects of her work and life.
Key facts:
Career: Project Manager, Productive Playhouse Ltd.; Freelance Consultant
Programme: Bachelor of Arts, majoring in Linguistics and Spanish
Bachelor of Arts (Hons) in Linguistics
PhD in Linguistics
Scholarship: University of Auckland Postgraduate Scholarship, University of Auckland Doctoral Scholarship, National Geographic Early Career Grant, University of Auckland Doctoral Research Fund
“I work remotely as a project manager for a US-based technology company which involves curating linguistic data, supporting and guiding various teams of linguistic consultants, quality control, managing team workflow, and so on. I also provide consulting services for research projects and initiatives, as and when my skills are needed!
“I definitely appreciate being able to use my linguistic background and my research skills in whatever capacity I can. A highlight for me has been getting involved in the development of a national language policy in St. Lucia [in the Caribbean], which is where I am currently based and where my PhD fieldwork was carried out.
“All the skills that I refined throughout my undergraduate and postgraduate study have certainly been useful. My linguistics knowledge has had direct application in my current job and my life in general. Problem solving, organisation and time management abilities have carried me through all kinds of projects.
In an era that seems to be increasingly reliant on unreliable sources of information, the ability to read critically has been and I think will continue to be crucial.
“I love learning, so as long as university was financially and logistically possible, I knew that was my next step after high school. As for selecting a Bachelor of Arts (BA) specifically, I didn’t have any clear idea of a job type or career that I wanted but I knew what subjects I was most interested in and that the BA would give me the biggest scope for exploring those interests.
“Linguistics is an interesting undergraduate major in the sense that it’s not something that most students have prior exposure to. Throughout the undergraduate programme I discovered a lot of areas that piqued my interest, but I wanted to go further with in-depth study. Postgraduate study was the opportunity to do that in a more self-guided way, which suited me well. It also helped that I was able to get funding for my Honours year and my PhD.
“For me, the biggest difference between undergraduate and postgraduate was the amount of control I had over my studies. At postgrad, within the courses offered, I was able to select my own topics to research and develop papers on, which was a big positive for me. There is also more focus on independent research and development of ideas, whereas undergraduate was more about accumulating all the information we needed to get to that point. The postgrad workload is higher of course – as are the expectations – so the step up can be difficult to get accustomed to in the first few weeks and you really have to hit the ground running.
“If you’ve made the decision to pursue further study, make the most of the opportunities you’ll have. Find your niche, find your people, and most importantly, do what you enjoy.”