The school of advertising & marketing

I hesitated long and hard about joining The Atomic Garden, and had a lot of doubts about whether the school would meet my expectations. Now I can safely say that it was more than worth it. I met many professionals of this market and learned more in six months than others do in four years of university. And, of course, I got the job I wanted and loved. What more could you ask for?

After completing the Creativity in Advertising course, I began to work with in-house digital product teams, so my creative work started requiring a deeper understanding of numbers. Hence, the newly launched Creative Performance course immediately appeared on my must-do list. I really liked having more than one course leader, because we got twice as much insights and relevant information, applicable to digital creation, planning and analytics.

Creative Performance MyBee After completing the Creativity in Advertising course, I began to work with in-house digital product teams, so my creative work started requiring a deeper understanding of numbers. Hence, the newly launched Creative Performance course immediately appeared on my must-do list. I really liked having more than one course leader, because we got twice as much insights and relevant information, applicable to digital creation, planning and analytics. The most interesting aspects of the course for me were their flexibility and the students themselves. The backgrounds of all the participants were quite different, and it allowed me to look into a lot of areas that I wouldn’t have thought of myself. Although the sessions were held after work, motivation was constantly boosted by the lively nature of the classes, which were tailored to the real world issues and needs of the time. It is only because of this flexibility that I have unexpectedly found a new topic of interest, which will certainly be easier to delve into with my fresh knowledge and contacts.

Since my school days, I have dreamed of establishing a community that would have a positive impact on the world around me. While working as a programmer in a product team, I saw that product managers are a part of the community that controls the levers of influence, which made me want to try this position myself. I was pleasantly surprised that I didn’t have to look far for opportunities, as The Atomic Garden was just recruiting for its first class of people who wanted to become Product Managers. What I expected from the course was a demystification of the producer role, heated discussions with teachers, and feedback-dominated mentoring. Expectations met. I know the difference between a Project and a Product Manager, I managed to pit teachers against each other, and I don’t even know where to put the amount of feedback I received from mentors and teachers. As someone with a fairly high quality standard, I was pleased with the competence of the teachers and the level of knowledge of their craft. The most important thing is that they did not lack empathy, which is especially important in the training of new knowledge and skills. During the course, we went through the product cycle, taking away 3 practical works that you can put in your portfolio. The teachers kept sharing different career stories with us. It was very useful in forming a multifaceted perspective of working in product companies.

This course was a memorable experience for me, with a comprehensive, enriching process, lots of interesting insights and a quality outcome. It gives more than you can take: branding that critically touches all aspects in a way that brings different lessons, benefits and value to everyone. Practical knowledge, real-life examples and discussions with professionals in the field are what this course can really promise. The whole path is not easy, it requires commitment and active participation, but the end result and the lessons learnt during the process are even more rewarding.

This course was like a festive binge for me. The more you put on the table, the more it jams. It’s bad, but you’re still stuck because you’ve awakened a masochistic, self-improvement-hungry demon somewhere inside you. I signed up for Atomic Garden as soon as I decided to return to Lithuania after several years of working abroad, hoping to gain self-confidence in a new phase. But the course pushed me out of my comfort zone even more than I expected. There were days when I doubted my abilities and even my professional direction. There were weeks when it seemed impossible to juggle so many branding components and get everything done on time. There were four months when, even at night, topics were running through my mind that I never thought I would be interested in: for example, the biodiversity of sea grasses. But relief came. Somewhere at the last presentation, when the results of intensive work turned into a finished project that you could put on Kickstarter. And after a couple of months after the course, you notice how you start telling your friends “that would be a good title for a product”, suddenly they recommend you to write texts in English (although you are a visual person anyway), and after half-jokingly offering to contribute to the development of sustainable packaging, you start and do it. And you realize that you know and can do much more now than it seemed at the beginning of the course, and everything is a little less scary.

… when you see an elderly supermarket cleaner who seems to be typing something on her phone, but when you get closer you see that she’s just putting on a pair of rubber gloves, you stop for a moment and you realise the differences between generations, the influence of social networks, changing habits, addictions that can easily be transformed into a new advertisement, and then you remember what your teacher said: life comes first, so you stop, you put an idea somewhere in your head for the future, but what can you do when after this course your perception completely changes, so you work every moment, and your thoughts are just one long sentence, full of ideas and insights that never end…

I learned from those hubspot tutorials, Google garage courses and all that bored me. Probably because I was looking not only for knowledge, but also for inspiration. And from the first lesson at school, I immediately felt that passion. From advertising history to insights. From copywriting to research. And you learn all this from the pros of that field. The only disclaimer – it all depends on you. You will get as much work as you put in. And you will probably get a lot.

It was one of the most exciting rollercoasters of my life. From the Eureka moments when you create concepts that work, to the thought – What am I doing with my life? – when you’re stuck all day. Not to mention the fellow students and teachers who become your second family. It is very difficult to put all the wonderful adventures in a few sentences. I’ve increased my creativity by 200%. I’m tremendously happy about my studies. They gave me the basics of some areas and deepened my knowledge where I needed it. I apply this knowledge every day in my work and my life. Creativity and fun life go hand in hand.

Creativity in Advertising is an ideal course for people who have a need to express their creativity, but don’t feel that they are artists. It took me a while to recognise this specific need myself, but I am very happy to have discovered it. During the course I learned to be creative on demand, which is the most powerful tool in any creative work. You don’t need to rely on inspiration alone. Instead, I can rely on myself because I know the necessary techniques. This is an essential part of my daily work at Milk advertising agency, where, thanks to The Atomic Garden course, I work as a copywriter

Despite the name, most courses available in the Lithuanian market still focus on the delivery aspect and cater primarily to Project or Backlog Managers, rather than true Product Managers. These were different—covering the entire range of Product Management activities from A to Z, with a strong emphasis on the most important aspect of Product Management – “Product Discovery.” Professional teachers + a well-balanced mix of theory and practice + curious and motivated participants = courses were useful not only for beginners, or those looking to start their careers in Product Management, but also those already working in the field and willing to learn some new stuff. Another advantage – it was a great place to meet professionals in the PM area and discuss your daily challenges.