A Newcomer’s Perspective

Hello! A very quick introduction about me. I’m one of the newest members of the team, who joined Sky’s Access Services department last year. I work mainly with the co-ordination of the subtitling process here at Sky.

As you can imagine, starting a new role in the peak of the pandemic wasn’t a particularly easy task, but the team always did their best to ensure that everything went as smoothly as possible, and made sure to ease any particular concerns I may have.

Straight away, my first impression of the department was the warmth and friendliness of everyone. It’s a strange situation we’re living in now, but despite not meeting many people face to face, I genuinely feel that I’ve been able to grow close to everyone in my team regardless.

Most importantly though, it was the department’s dedication towards providing the best service possible that impressed me the most. Though we have a friendly work environment; when it comes down to it, everyone here is very passionate about what we do and the service we provide. I feel that it’s very easy to overlook and underestimate the importance of subtitles; but for many, it can be their only way of accessing a particular form of media. Without them, there would be no way for some people to understand their favourite television series, movie or sporting event.

As someone who was new to the department, it was amazing for me to learn about the sheer amount of time and energy involved that goes towards producing the subtitles you see every day. From production, to the coordinators and subtitlers, to transmission. There are a lot of layers and people involved whose job it is to make sure you’re able to watch your favourite tv show, wherever you are, as easily as possible.

Sky Access Services Co-ordinator - Simon Lam