Where Are They Now: David Hawkins – Media Operator at Sky

UCFB graduate David Hawkins has used his degree in BA (Hons) Sports Business and Sports Broadcasting to secure a role at an elite sports broadcaster.

David, an alumnus of UCFB Wembley, now works as a media operator at Sky, working with Sky Sports.

“I primarily work on sports ingest,” David said. “We’re the hub for everything that goes to air. We’re the ones who put everything on the server to be accessed by producers.

“Interviews and live sport are things that people feed to us, and we put onto the server. Basically, if you think of anything that goes to air, we record it and put it onto the server.”

He spoke about how great it was to work for the iconic sports broadcasting organisation.

“If you’re a sports fan, you’ve heard of Sky. I grew up watching sports news, so being here now, even if I’m a little bit more behind the scenes, I’m still contributing to the programme and that’s really cool.

“I’m getting to watch sport as I work, and I guess that’s the dream for a lot of people.”

Speaking about his time at UCFB, David said: “Being at Wembley Stadium is great. It was very inspiring, and having lecturers who’ve worked in the industry was great as you get a lot of that experience passed on to you.

“At a lot of universities, it’s essay after essay. We did a lot of practical stuff. Applying for this job, I had a lot to show about what I’d done at university.”

He finished: “The sports industry is very competitive. I think it’s more daunting when you’re in university to think about opportunities, but what I would say is apply for as much as you can and do as much as you can outside of university.

“I know it’s a cliché, but you really should, as that will increase your chances of getting somewhere.”

UCFB has many sports media-related degree courses, including BA (Hons) Multimedia Sports Journalism and BA (Hons) Football Business and Media. UCFB’s undergraduate courses allow students to take that first step towards their dream career in sport, whether media, coaching, business or any other field.