Hi, I’m Lizzie Jay and I’m an instructional designer. I design and develop effective and engaging learning experiences, incorporating educational theories and technologies to meet specific learning objectives.
Well, that’s the formal explanation!
Basically, I design and create beautiful and effective training for people who need it. I work mostly as a contractor or consultant, advising and designing courses for many different companies in all sorts of industries. But let’s start at the beginning.
My Background
I have a technology background with an honours degree in physics and almost twenty years in the IT industry. I worked my way up from being a programmer to analyst and consultant running teams of developers. After spending a year travelling the world (due to ‘lack’ of a misspent youth!) I went solo and spent a number of years running my own business as a contractor before relocating from London to Sydney, Australia.
Change of Direction
We stayed there for a few years, then came back to start a family, but I found being a contractor was difficult when my children were little. So, I decided to take the leap that I’d always promised myself and set about starting a writing business. I’ve helped all sorts of businesses get themselves on the digital map, with web copy and landing pages to informational marketing brochures.
What happened next!
After a few years in the writing industry, I was lucky enough to get into instructional design. It turns out that it’s a logical transfer from freelance writing, particularly when I mixed it with knowledge from my time as a systems analyst. Back then, creating a software project was very similar to instructional design. It starts with the analysis period, where you talk to the people concerned to see what you need to do and what the end result needs to be. After this, you design and develop your training (or software if you’re in IT), implement it and evaluate the results, tweaking if need be. So with that procedure hard-wired into my brain from my earlier career, my ability to write content and a looooooot of research and practice, I eventually felt everything fall into place in the instructional design world.
How I Can Help You
As well as contracting, a year or so ago I was approached by a friend who was a teacher. She loved teaching, but had had enough of the hours, the pressure, the pay – or lack of it – and was looking for something else she could do. She was desperate to find a different career that would inspire her, but without taking so much toll on her mental and physical health. Of course, I extolled the virtues of instructional design (well, I would, wouldn’t I!). But it’s a great career for those wishing to transition into something else while still using the wealth of knowledge and skills they’ve learnt elsewhere, whether as a teacher, as in my friend’s case, or pretty much any other career. As long as you’re willing to put the work in, this can be a very rewarding business to be in.
And that’s where I came in. Obviously spending my days designing and developing courses for other people made this a perfect opportunity for me to teach someone to do what I do. And that gave me the impetus to start this website and blog. I want to be able to help anyone who is starting out in the industry, or is already here and wants to improve their skills and advance their career.
And that is why I am confident I can help you. If you’re thinking of changing careers, I can help you explore the world of instructional design to see if it’s something you’d like to do, and teach you the skills you’ll need along the way.
I love what I do, and I also look forward every day to helping people find a career they love. Remember…
Choose a job you love and you’ll never have to work a day in your life.
Confucius
Reignite your passion in a new career that uses all your current skills, teaches you new ones and pays you what you deserve. Sign up below and I’ll send you my free 6-email course that will introduce you to the world of instructional design and we can take it from there.
If you have any questions at any point, just email me at Lizzie@LizzieJay.com. I read and answer all emails and I can’t wait to help you on this journey to rediscover your educational fire.