About me

• Consultant Technical Manager at QA Ltd
• Studied: MSc Computing, 2019
• Contact me on LinkedIn

About my career

I obtained my first job before I graduated, working as a trainee IT consultant within my current company, QA Ltd. I was contacted by a recruiter after speaking with the Manchester Met career and employability team and updating my CV based on their guidance. The technical skills I needed for the role were skills I had covered during my course, including Java and SQL. During my training, I developed key practical knowledge such as working in an agile environment. As the role was for IT consultants, I was also recruited on the basis of my soft skills – communication and presenting technical information to a non-technical audience are the key to consulting.

I am currently working as a consultant technical manager at QA Ltd. I’m responsible for the technical management and continuous professional development of our consultants on-site with various clients, including those in the government and finance sectors. My day-to-day tasks include the design and implementation of technical training plans, consultant reviews and appraisals to ensure they are meeting their goals. Additional training I have undertaken for this role has included upskilling on DevOps and cloud technologies, as well as familiarising myself with the Information Technology Infrastructure Library framework as this is critical for my organisation and sector.

Within my role, I use many of the business skills from course units such as Information Systems Management and Strategy, which helped me to further develop strategic and ‘big picture’ thinking, and my understanding of organisations as a whole including how different functions within an organisation interact and support each other. Outside of the lecture theatre, I appreciated the events put on by the student union, including a student leadership conference that gave me valuable insight into job applications, creative technology and led to me volunteering to speak at events through work and in my personal time.

Since graduating, I have joined the Chartered Institute for IT as an associate member and gained business analysis certifications, such as Modelling Business Processes and Requirements Engineering, as well as both the PRINCE2 Foundation and Practitioner Certifications in Project Management.

My top tip for students

Research the industry. Not just current events, but forecasts on trends and up-and-coming ideas. This will help you to keep your skills sharp and continue to develop, which employers love to see from graduates. For progression, don’t get lost in a company and never be afraid to let your personality shine.

I’m inspired by

Annabel Latham, who was one of my lecturers during the course. Annabel inspired me to see that I can be a woman who is technical and has a successful career in the industry, as well as giving me some of the business knowledge I’ve applied since finishing the course.

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