Getting to the end of four long years of higher education, naturally I had begun thinking about what I was going to do after I left the safety of my university campus. Travelling? Further study? Luckily, I met an employee of Telefónica Tech through mutual friends in a pub one evening, who encouraged me to apply. Making it through the assessment process, which included several interviews, a presentation and a very interesting written test, I secured myself a job for after graduation.

Six months has now passed since I arrived at Telefónica Tech for my first day. Having not known much about consulting or Telefónica Tech, I feel I’m suitably qualified to share my 4 key insights into what it is like to be a consultant here. Hopefully this will encourage others to take their first steps into a career in data consultancy, particularly with a company as dynamic and open as Telefónica Tech.

What kind of organisation is Telefónica Tech?

The first feature of Telefónica Tech that I discovered was the organisation’s flat structure and open culture. While these terms pop up in many corporate brochures, from my first day everyone in the office has made me feel welcome, from the most junior to the most senior. The wealth of experience available in the office has allowed me to tackle any challenges I come across in my working day, which has been particularly helpful when getting to grips with all the new technologies. This open culture even extends to the social side of the office – at the Christmas party tables were completely mixed, with people from different teams and levels of seniority socialising together. Likewise, there are social events held on a more frequent schedule, such as post-work drinks, meals out and to various after work activities (table tennis at Bounce in Farringdon being a highlight!).

How can I grow at Telefónica Tech?

Another aspect of Telefónica Tech that has jumped out to me is the opportunity for personal development, covering technical development in the key Microsoft products we makes use of, improving the communication skills relied upon day-to-day, and even opportunities outside of work, such as volunteering at a local centre for adults with learning disabilities. Some of my most memorable training so far has been the spoken communication and presentation course, which everyone at Telefónica Tech completes – having been someone who has always hated public speaking, the two-day course has vastly improved my confidence in this area and provided me with skills I use throughout my working day.

One thing that is heavily encouraged at Telefónica Tech is keeping fit – be it through signing up for running events, 5-a-side football or joining in on cycle rides. A few years ago, there was even a charity ride from Lyon to Marseille, which many employees took part in. The support in getting fitter not only promotes physical health, but also mental wellbeing, keeping everyone healthy and happy.

How varied is the work?

I have been lucky to have worked in many different sides of Telefónica Tech during my short time here. The first six weeks were spent rotating through different teams within the company, including Marketing, Finance and Sales. While these were not directly linked to my official role, it was really useful to gain an insight into all the different tasks required to run a company successfully. This experience was also a great way for me to get to know many people within the company, providing the essential workplace relationships required to be productive.

In my role as a data analytics consultant, I have been able to gain experience within the key areas of consultancy that Telefónica Tech offers, working on both technical and business consulting-based projects for three different clients. This has given me a solid start to understand the technology used on a day-to-day basis within the company, and to understand aspects of consulting that I hadn’t considered before, particularly the importance of project management and requirements gathering before getting stuck into the technical work.

What will I learn?

The diverse range of work that Telefónica Tech engages in, and the varied experience that exists within the employees means that there is a huge amount of knowledge within the company. Fortunately, Telefónica Tech encourages everyone to share their expertise with one another, for example through regularly updated blogs, weekly lunchtime seminars and monthly company-wide tech updates. There are even opportunities to share knowledge and expertise outside of the company, with Telefónica Tech employees speaking at industry wide events such as the SQL Surrey seminars, the SQL Bits conference, Data Relay and other UK wide user groups.

The open culture at Telefónica Tech also links into the sharing of information within the company – each month the directors hold a meeting with all employees, and the performance of the company is outlined. The information covered ranges from financial data through to the relationships Telefónica Tech has with partner companies, such as Microsoft. This ends with a question and answer session with the directors, where any employee can ask a question about anything (within reason!).

Conclusion

Hopefully this blog has given an insight into what it is like to work at Telefónica Tech as a recent graduate, and some of the experiences and opportunities that you can have within the first few months. I look forward to spending the future gaining more experience with Telefónica Tech, and fingers crossed will use all the opportunities for keeping fit to actually get in shape!