Name: Arshdeep Soni
Subject: BSc Computer Science, 2018
Place of work: Discovery Inc
Position: Software Engineer
Alumnus and Magician Arshdeep Soni has taken TikTok by storm. A member of London’s prestigious Magic Circle, he seemingly makes the impossible possible and boasts over 8 million followers on the platform.
Why did you choose to study Computer Science at Royal Holloway?
I was always obsessed with anything related to technology and kept myself up to date with anything new that would be released. Computer Science was another area where I knew could extend my knowledge of technology and its workings. Whilst choosing my University options I was recommended Royal Holloway by a friend who’d enrolled a year earlier and after visiting the Open Day, I knew I wanted to study here.
What did you enjoy most about your course?
I enjoyed the overall learning experience, and the vast variety of topic options we had within the course. The lecturers were also very comfortable and easy to work with when we had doubts about the content.
How did Royal Holloway help prepare you for life after university?
The skills I learnt throughout my time, at Royal Holloway both technical and non-technical allowed me to secure a placement year at Yell, who also offered me a full time job before I had even completed my degree. Since leaving university I continued working at Yell as a Web Software Engineer for a few years where I was able to expand my technical skills and knowledge even further. I recently changed jobs in April 2020 just as we neared the first lockdown and started working at Discovery. During my time at University, whilst also working at Yell, I continued to pursue magic and social media.
What do you enjoy most about your line of work?
Computer Science / Software Engineering, is all about problem solving and working through challenges which is something I’ve always been good it. It sometimes requires thinking outside of the box to solve certain problems and needs a level of creativity. Naturally, this course appealed to me the most and I guess that explains why I enjoy it so much. With the magic side of things, it’s very similar – magic is all about thinking outside the box to create the perfect trick or illusion. It’s very creative and I always found that both software engineering and magic pretty much go hand-in-hand as they have very similar aspects.
When did your love for magic start?
I was shown a magic trick by a friend in a party in 2011, and was instantly mind-blown. It was one of those moments, where I couldn’t explain what I had just seen, and of course he wouldn’t tell me either, so decided I had to learn something for myself.
I learnt my first very basic trick the next day and immediately showed my parents, and the reaction I received was absolutely amazing. Just because of that experience I wanted to learn another, and just like that the journey started, learning one trick after the other, like a never ending chain.
I had built a catalogue of tricks and short while after it became a thing that I would carry a deck of cards with me everywhere I’d go. Shortly after, using the skills I learnt during university I created my very first website: www.arshdeepsoni.com
Overtime I perfected the art as much as possible and started performing a lot more as well. I started doing close-up shows for corporate and private events and built a network of clients.
What do you think is the secret to your success on the TikTok platform?
Ever since I got into magic I really enjoyed learning the secrets behind the tricks and performing on a frequent basis. Social media was a way to reach a whole new audience by creating videos online and interacting with people. I started posting consistently on my social channels in around 2014 just before getting into University. I loved the process of planning a concept, filming the idea and getting into post production with the editing. I actually started uploading my videos first on Facebook and YouTube, as Instagram didn’t allow for videos at the time. Shortly after uploading my first couple videos on these platforms, I had one of them sky rocket after it had been shared by LadBible on Facebook. The video reached over 1 million videos in a matter of days and the response was incredible and after that I knew I wanted to continue this journey. I was able to focus even more on the social media side of things as soon as I had graduated as I had so much more free time. I started posting more consistently to Instagram mainly because of shorter form content and was also able to meet more alike people in my field and started collaborating with others. TikTok came out a short while after as Musically, which I joined and started uploading on pretty much immediately.
I started noticing success on here very early on as their user base was a lot smaller at the time. I kept posting here as I had a huge catalogue of content from other platforms. Within a year, I went from 0 to 7.5 Million followers and a few months later I’m now at 8 Million. The key to TikTok and other platforms is to create, entertaining and sharable, content and also constant collaboration with others, this is what makes the algorithm work in your favour. Consistency and sticking to a posting schedule is vital to survive on any platform.
What is your greatest professional achievement to date?
My greatest personal achievement to date would definitely be being featured by TikTok on large scale Billboards in London’s most iconic locations, Piccadilly Circus, IMAX Waterloo, Shepherds Bush Westfield, High Street Kensington, Canary Wharf and a few more. They ran a campaign in early September called “It Starts on TikTok” and chose 5 creators to be part of this campaign, it went live at the end of the month and was promoted pretty heavily on all their social accounts. Other than this it’s definitely being able to work and collaborate with some of the world's top leading brands such as Burger King, Papa Johns, Juice Burst Mini Cheddars, Fashion Nova and many more in such a short amount of time.
What advice would you give to students thinking about a career in your industry? (Computer Science, magic or both!)
For anyone looking to start a career, business in any field go with what you are passionate about, it’ll open a lot more doors down the line as you actually enjoy what you do. I’d definitely say, don’t give up so early on, it can be tricky at first to build a foundation in anything, but it’s not impossible and sometimes easier than you actually think.