Matthew - Linguist

"It's great to be using the language I learned every day".

"The challenge is this: you're given a high volume of foreign language material every day - often in street dialect. You have to translate and transcribe it effectively - then turn it into reports for customers in a range of government departments. At the moment I'm working on a project that's a real challenge. My work will make a real difference, so I want to get it right.

The social life's good. I arrived in the area knowing no-one - and then moved into a little flat on my own. But from the day I started at GCHQ I found I had a really good base of people to go out with. There's a high percentage of young people working here. Lots of internal activities plus a good local scene. And GCHQ flexitime means your work and social lives fit the pattern that suits you best.

I studied Ancient and Modern Languages and lived abroad for a year. But before I saw the ad in the press, it never occurred I would end up doing this!

Most of my linguist friends at University had to settle for second best. One now works for Yellow Pages, others have fallen into market research. It's great to be using the language I learned, every day. And the intelligence side's amazingly interesting.

You never feel coming to work's a chore. You never feel like pulling a sicky! How many other employers can you say that for?

The atmosphere's friendly - and really team based. That applies to learning too. I plan to learn more languages. And as well as external courses, team members also teach one another. It makes a lot of sense when you think about it. Because intelligence experience gives you the best understanding of exactly which parts of a language are most important".