Adam Taylor: Hewlett Packard (HP) graduate
Job: technology consultant
Employer: Hewlett Packard (HP)
Qualifications: BSc information management and computing, Loughborough University
Graduated: 2009
My degree included a sandwich year; I spent this at Caterpillar, providing third-line support for a business-critical application. I also did two summer internships at an investment bank. Neither area was quite what I wanted long term so I investigated other options; I was keen to stay in IT but liked the idea of consulting.
Migration projects
I’m now a Microsoft-aligned technology consultant. I work with customers who have IT needs relating to Microsoft technologies. I could help them to move from one technology to another or design and implement new systems.
Since joining I’ve worked with two customers, an engineering company and a drinks business, helping them to migrate all the applications on their desktops from Windows 2000 to Windows Vista or Windows 7. Both customers have a mixture of off-the-shelf and bespoke applications, all of which must work well on the new operating system.
I’ve moved back and forth between the projects, always focusing full time on one of them. For the past year I’ve been working with the engineering company, based in Derby. I’m now migration lead on this project, meaning that I’m responsible for the day-to-day running of the team. There are six or seven consultants working on the project plus a project manager, who is responsible for financial matters and reporting progress to senior colleagues.
Managing the team
I manage my team’s workloads, provide guidance, arrange training, resolve any issues and oversee our relationship with other internal teams, the customer and other IT companies with which the customer works. Prioritisation and time management are key skills: I need to organise my own workload so that I have time to support my team. Communication skills and relationship-building are also vital. When I started I was keen for senior figures at customer organisations to perceive me as an experienced consultant as soon as possible. I feel I’ve now succeeded by ensuring that I’m always professional, organised, hardworking and well-informed.
Being flexible
I enjoy working in different places with different people and wouldn’t want to settle down to a more typical ‘nine-to-five’ job at this stage in my career. However, consulting isn’t for everyone. It’s important to be flexible with regard to travelling to where the business needs you and to be prepared to work longer hours if there’s a deadline to meet. I live in the south east, usually heading up to Derby on Monday morning and leaving a bit early on Friday to return home. I work from home roughly once a fortnight and occasionally travel to one of my company’s offices for a meeting.
Aiming for the top
I’ve recently been accepted onto my employer’s ‘talent’ programme, for those considering aiming for a senior role within the company. I have mentoring support, opportunities to network and one-to-one meetings with HR to discuss career planning. I’m not quite sure of my career direction yet but I do want to follow a management route.