Meet Anouska and hear about how IT's not just for the boys! helped get her a dream role at SunGard

Name: Anouska Fox
Job Title: Graduate Consultant
Company: SunGard

I attended the TARGETjobs Events IT’s not just for the boys! last November. After the event I was contacted by Ruby the Graduate Recruiter for SunGard Financial Systems encouraging me to apply for a Graduate Consultancy role, which I was later awarded.

I really enjoyed the day, and especially the opportunity to meet so many like-minded girls. Don’t be afraid of ‘networking’ – I think it’s much easier if you just see it as an opportunity to make friends and learn about some new people. The great thing is that everyone there is open to talking to new people – remember to smile and look approachable and if you get on well with someone don’t be afraid to take their email or name for LinkedIn.

It’s also a great opportunity to ask questions of recruiters in a more informal manner, and gives you a chance to find out information about the company culture and other areas that you can’t find elsewhere. If possible, research all the companies before the event, as you may have misconceptions and not realise the schemes on offer as companies are usually a lot broader than you’d imagine.  Also sometimes during applications the focus is too heavily on whether or not you are the right candidate for the role, but it’s also important to establish whether the company and position are the right match for your particular skillset and goals.

I hadn’t heard of SunGard before attending the event, and after looking at the roles available I felt it was a great opportunity to combine several of my interests. I work as a consultant in the Energy Trading and Risk Management department, which allows exposure to Energy Markets, Trading, Finance and Business Analysis, whilst still working in the Technology sector. The application process consisted of Written Questions, Online Testing, then several interviews and an Assessment Centre. What I found different to this process compared to other applications was the level of communication – some companies leave you waiting for months whereas Ruby regularly kept me updated, which may have been due to building a relationship by meeting through TargetJobs.

I’ve really enjoyed my experience with SunGard so far – I’ve had a 8 week comprehensive training programme on the software and energy markets, I have further self-taught and individual training to build up some technical skills then begin work on a Project in November.

I hope you all enjoy the day, try and make the most of the opportunity – and if nothing else remember to smile!

If you’d like to contact me for advice with applying for SunGard please contact the TARGETjobs Events team (events@targetjobs.co.uk) and they'll put you in touch with me!

Anouska

SunGard will be attending IT's not just for the boys! on 14 November, at Bloomberg HQ in London - applications are open now!

Meet Alice Doyne, a Consultant at Deloitte - our IT's not just for the boys! Event Programme Partner

Name:        Alice Doyne
Role:          Consultant

A little about me and my role as a Consultant in Deloitte’s Technology Strategy and Architecture practice.
 

I joined Deloitte’s graduate programme 2 years ago, having spent 3 years working in medical education. This was an area I’d worked in throughout my vacations at uni, and as I hadn’t quite decided what career path I wanted to take, I went back to it at the end of my degree in History. I found that the parts of my job that I really enjoyed were those where I improved how we did things – often by computerising the systems involved. So when I heard about Technology consulting, I knew that was what I wanted to do.

When I came to apply, I found that Deloitte’s offering stood out from the crowd. I liked that Deloitte had kept its Consulting service line when other firms had not, and this seemed to make a difference in terms of the breadth and depth of their capabilities. My Deloitte interviews went (relatively!) smoothly, and I’m convinced this is because I knew exactly what I wanted to do.

I now work in Technology Strategy and Architecture, specialising in IT Strategy. I help Chief Information Officers (CIOs) and their teams to align their IT strategy to their organisation’s wider business goals. I also deliver Service Management projects, where we work with IT departments to deliver services to their customers (i.e. the business) more efficiently and effectively.

As everyone in consulting says, there is no such thing as a typical day – so I’ll go for one from my favourite project so far. We were developing strategic roadmaps for a gas company, which involved running a lot of workshops with delegates who often included members of the executive board, such as the Chief Financial Officer or the Head of Networks. This made preparation really important, and part of my role was to make sure we had all the materials ready for the workshops. So I put together straw man roadmaps in PowerPoint, and prepared banners of the tailored version of the Deloitte tool we use to generate ideas in strategy workshops.

On the day of a workshop, I would get there before everyone else to set everything up. I’d participate in the workshop, documenting the outputs so that I could incorporate these into the roadmaps the next day. Sometimes the workshops could be quite difficult. Not all of the executives were happy that the Chief Information Officer had commissioned our project, and so we had to get to know them really well and spend a lot of time assuring them that our work was aligned to other strategic pieces of work going on at the company. At the end of the project, the Chief Information Officer and the rest of the exec were really happy with what we delivered – and in the process, I learned how a gas company is run!

Everyone’s busy, but in the teams I’ve worked in we’ve usually made time mid-morning to grab coffee and have a break. If we’re away, I’ll often go for dinner and drinks with my team after work – working away from your family can be tough, but I’ve always had a team around me who are game for a night out which lightens the load! When I’m in London I’ll head home to Crystal Palace for dinner with my husband. He’s in professional services too, and it’s nice to be able to talk with someone who understands how the business works.

Working at Deloitte has been an amazing experience – I’ve benefited from easy access to fantastic training, and I work with fun, intelligent people on a day to day basis.

You can meet Alice at IT's not just for the boys! - the best networking event for women interested in IT - on Friday 24 October, London.

Zartasha works for ATOS, she gives us a run down of a day in her life...

Name: Zartasha 
Year of graduation: 2013
University: Warwick
Degree:  Sociology
Joined Atos: 2013
Job title: Graduate Service Manager

My background 
During my final year at university, I was looking into opportunities that would enable me to apply my new skills in the IT industry. I was also interested in a role where I could approach projects from multiple perspectives. 

Atos stood out as a place where I could develop, in an environment where I would be constantly challenged, yet provided with a great deal of support. I joined Atos Worldline shortly after completing my degree, and from the very beginning there has been a great deal of exposure to commercial, technical and operational areas.  What I really enjoy about my role is that no two days are the same. 

My tasks vary greatly, from assisting with audits to interacting with customers. What's more, everyone has been very welcoming, helpful and I've gained my ITIL qualification, making the transition from a non-IT background much easier. This has really encouraged me to take on more responsibilities and gain exposure to an even wider range of areas within the company. 

My job summed up
My job is all about ensuring our services are delivered within the agreed framework. I currently work on one key customer, who is a rail service provider. My role isn’t technical, but I’ve gained an understanding of networks and how credit card data flows which has really helped me. I’m in charge of setting up VPN connections for TIS (ticket issuing systems) suppliers. I work closely with various technical teams in Atos and client side. Most of the tasks revolve around the payment processing hub, to make sure it’s compliant by deploying security activities, which I do myself, or make sure they’re done by another member of the team or my line manager if they’re particularly complex! 

A day in my life:
0900-1100:
Checking emails and my 'to do' list, followed by coffee. Meetings can start as early as 9am, so I may well take my coffee into one of those. I’m currently helping out with the mandatory data audit, which has been my favourite part of my job so far. I’ve been shadowing a PCI Quality Manager, who has been hosting an audit, giving an overview of how the system works and what we need to look out for. It’s given me a real insight into what the PCIDs audit involves, and what things you need to make sure run smoothly. 

1100-1300:
I join weekly calls for our account, which is based in India, so it is an insightful experience and a good opportunity to learn about different work cultures. 
By midday, a few of my colleagues and I usually head out for lunch and catch up on the day. More coffee!

1300-1500: 
Tracking the account’s finances and reporting to my manager, then customer calls. If there's an issue with a component in our account’s system, I could be assisting my manager by following up on the status of an incident and liaising with the technical and internal network team. 
More coffee!

1500-1700: 
This is a good time to follow up on any changes raised and catch up on recurring operational tasks. 

1700-1800:
I am part of the steering committee, which maintains the 'Graduates & Interns' space within the Atos social business network, Blue Kiwi. So, I contact other graduates to arrange profile interviews, to post on the space for other Graduates to learn more about different areas of the business.

Zartasha and her team will also being joining us at IT's not just for the boys! at our Nottingham event!

Anushka Joshi is a Business Development Executive for London Stock Exchange Group. She's coming to October IT's not just for the boys!

Two years ago I graduated with a masters in chemistry from the university of Warwick. I am now a Technology Product Manager at London Stock Exchange Group. 

I am frequently asked the following two questions: 
1. Why did I switch from chemistry to financial services/technology?
2. What made me choose LSEG?

Let us begin by tackling the latter. Why LSEG: first and foremost, the brand sells itself. If I was to attempt to make sense of this vast and ever evolving financial landscape we operate in, this was the place to do it. I like to be in the heart of the action, and at LSEG you most definitely are. 

Next, we shall address (1). It was time for a change of scenery after several years working in a chemical laboratory, and the highly topical nature of financial services was very appealing. I am naturally inclined towards logic, reasoning and problem solving, and this paired with my growing interest in the economy fostered the transition away from chemistry. We no longer see the same levels of correlation between fields of academic interest and career path. With this in mind, many recruiters seek aptitude over knowledge, and genuine interest over the conventional discipline (this is not to make light of those formidable candidates whom possess all of the above). 

I joined LSEG, and perhaps unsurprisingly, found that my skills and interests were well suited for a role in technology. I am a scientist. I fundamentally like knowing how things work, and finding the solution. I now work on connectivity (fibres, IP addressing, global hubs and network infrastructure etc) and on a wide range of technology projects on a global and client facing scale. I not only have the stimulus of data analysis, problem solving and learning new technologies, I do client facing work, financials and legal and regulatory analysis. 

It is promising to see increasing numbers of women in technology. Without casting too far back in memory, I recall the iconic picture of women celebrating the Mars mission in India. Obama has recently appointed a new CTO. A woman. Whilst jobs in technology are not necessarily at the forefront of people’s concept of a career in financial services, their relevancy is undeniable. The calamitous IPO of Facebook in 2012. The hacking scandals which fill our media. The flash crash of 2010 which saw $1 trillion of shareholder equity wiped in minutes. Technology is front and centre, and that’s where I want to be..

Chikku Thomas, a Software Engineer for M&S tells us a little about herself and a day in the life of her role

Multi tasking, quick learning, a creative mind, fast paced and who love change; surely, these are characteristics that are second nature to us girls. As a software developer within the international development team at Marks and Spencer, my role demands all of the above and more within a day’s work.

As part of the ‘Agile’ team, my role is focussed at developing and improving our country specific websites to drive revenue from un-tapped markets. The typical workday starts off with the team stand up meeting where we plan our tasks for the day. The rest of the day is a mix of activities; no two days are similar. The day is split between liaising with business analysts to understand requirements and developing and testing the code. We work in two weekly sprints at the end of which we release code to production. This quick paced approach enables us to deliver changes and improvements to our customers faster.

The work environment here is casual and energetic. We celebrate our success, learn from our mistakes and constantly strive to deliver better results. The software team is highly supportive and always encouraging to learn and develop. We are given our 10% time in a week that is dedicated to personal development.

I see it as a privilege to work for Marks and Spencer, a company that takes pride to be a traditional British retailer. It is an amazing opportunity to see the effort that goes behind selling products to customers, from analysing the needs of the customer, conceptualizing and design of product to delivery. The focus always being to make lives of our customers that much more easier and comfortable.

To give you a brief background of myself, I graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Telecommunication engineering and have over two years’ experience of working within the IT industry. I started my career working as an associate developer for an Indian company and joined Marks and Spencer last year through their graduate software engineering scheme. The journey so far has been intriguing and filled with varied experiences. In today’s world where everyone is highly dependent on technology, I see working in this field as an opportunity to contribute to society whilst being able to work in a relaxed fun filled environment. IT is definitely not just for the boys!