Hi! I’m Colette Rodgers, and I am a Senior Functional Consultant at Telefónica Tech.
I graduated with a Computing Science degree from the University of the West of Scotland in 2018, and since then, my career has seen rapid progression. Here’s my journey from Graduate to Senior Consultant…
Post-graduation
I think that for a lot of graduates, including myself, it can be challenging to search for a role after university when you aren’t entirely sure what type of role to apply for. This is what attracted me to join the company, the opportunity to get training for, and complete, Microsoft certifications. This gave me comfort knowing I would not be thrown in at the deep end and was given time to learn about Dynamics 365 and Power Platform from the get-go of my career.
On the road to consultancy
My first role after university was as an analyst. I embarked on a 3-month training programme to allow me to prepare for – and sit – the Microsoft certification exams. Following the completion of these, I began shadowing consultants to understand how they used Dynamics 365 and Power Platform to support our customers.
The consultants would allocate small task lists for me to complete with their support. Gradually, the responsibility and complexity of these tasks increased, and instead of supervision, I would have check-ins with the consultants. This helped to build my confidence as I felt I was contributing to projects and learning from more senior members of the team. Once I was able to comfortably take on tasks independently, my role progressed from analyst to consultant, where I was part of the project delivery team, working with senior consultants and architects.
Early career highlights
I am grateful for the learning opportunities I was provided while working as a new graduate. The team of experienced senior consultants could always provide in-depth knowledge of Dynamics 365 and Power Platform and always went above and beyond to support me in any areas I was interested in learning about. Internal Lunch and Learn sessions bolstered my knowledge of the wider business and internal training sessions were also of great value to me, both of which have played a huge part in my career progression to date.
Learning and development
Incremental’s strong commitment to ensuring that every Telefónica Techist has access to learning and development opportunities is something that is important to me. I’m given dedicated time in my working week to maintain my Microsoft certifications, go on external training courses for soft skills and work towards personal objectives to empower my career progression.
Becoming a Senior Consultant
When I felt ready to go for a promotion, I could not have been more supported by my line manager and colleagues across the business. The process was interesting for me because it gave me an opportunity to reflect on all that I had learned and achieved in the previous three years, as well as all the customers I had helped through my involvement in successful projects. This was key in preparing me for the step up to the role of Senior Consultant.
A helpful reassurance that I received during the promotion process was “don’t be afraid to make mistakes”, which was really refreshing to hear. For someone who is still early in their career, this showed me that Telefónica Tech encourage looking at mistakes as learning opportunities to build resilience and move on from.
As my role has become more senior, I am trusted to lead the delivery of projects, meaning I have more opportunities to interact with our customers. By building these relationships, I get to really understand how Telefónica Tech can assist them and their specific circumstances.
My next steps within the role of Senior Consultant are to continue to focus on supporting more junior members of the team in their career progression, just as my seniors did for me.
What stands out about Telefónica Tech
For me, my colleagues are my favourite thing about Telefónica Tech. I’m lucky to have begun my career with a fantastic, encouraging team, a lot of whom I still work with four years on. They have such diverse knowledge and experience spanning all areas of the business, and I am fortunate enough to learn from this.
Another aspect of Telefónica Tech that I enjoy is the hybrid working model, which has shown me that I can still build strong working relationships with colleagues, while working remotely. I find that remote working allows for a healthier work-life balance, although I do like coming into our Glasgow office to catch up with my colleagues face-to-face.
All in all, I have had an enriching career journey with Telefónica Tech, and I can’t wait to see what comes next. If you would like to find out more about careers at Telefónica Tech, feel free to message me on LinkedIn or get in touch with our Talent team today.