We all know how time flies when you’re having fun, right? Well, I have just celebrated my two-year anniversary as a junior IT consultant, at Ntegra and it only felt like yesterday that I was welcomed to the team!

So how far have I come in those two years, I ask myself?

Working in construction since leaving school in the year 2000, I realised I was ready for a change of career. I contemplated college for some time before finally enrolling on an access course, to gain my A levels. The access course was designed for mature students, consisting of two academic years rolled into one. If I passed the access course, it meant I would be able to apply for a place at University. And that is exactly what I did.

Cut to 3 years later, and an abundance of blood sweat and tears – ok, maybe the blood was a bit dramatic! Lots of sweat and tears though. I finally left university with a Psychology degree under my belt and I was now ready to step out into the wide world of employment, or at least, so I thought.

There I was, fresh out of University, clutching this hard-earned degree, but with no real direction to move forward. I, for the most part, knew what I went to university to do, but suddenly I had reached a dead end. I had gained my degree, but where did I go from here and what steps should I be taking next?

Thankfully, the dead end was short lived as an opportunity had developed within Ntegra, that I grasped with both hands. After various rounds of interviews, to my delight, I was finally called back and offered a job as a permanent member of staff and welcomed to the Ntegra team.

All the hard work had paid off! Or had it?

No doubt university had prepared me for the change in work culture, the ways of working and the various office tools I would now be working with in my new role, but what did I know about IT consultancy? As much as I was excited to be working for Ntegra and extremely grateful for the opportunity, I was also hit with the fear of the unknown.

Thankfully, this feeling was also short-lived! My first 12 months at Ntegra was similar to that of an internship. I was given the opportunity to work across all areas of the business to gain practical skills, workplace experience and greater knowledge of the industry. I spent time with the different business units, Accounts, HR and PMO. During this time, I was fortunate to shadow and work alongside very experienced consultants whose roles included Solution & System Developers, Business Analysts, Software Testers, Project Managers, Programme Managers and Financial Controllers. Additionally, I was supported by Ntegra and given the appropriate training, completing PRINCE2, SharePoint and advanced Microsoft tool training. Since joining Ntegra, I have been encouraged to set a career goal and aim to achieve it. This is because Ntegra is a people-centric organisation empowering their employees to achieve their goals in business. With regular one to one meetings with the People & Talent director, we laid out a plan, mapped with essential training courses, bespoke education and mentoring, in order to reach my goal. Once my goal has been reached, the plan will be revisited and updated with another goal and future education and training etc.

My vision plan is to become a Project Manager in the near future and Ntegra are certainly paving the way for this to become achievable.

Not only has the careful planning of relevant training courses, education and mentoring been put in place and help develop my skill set, similarly, but job roles have also been practically designated along with considered exposure to client sites.

As a result, to date, I have had success in project onboarding and offboarding management, RAID management, workshop coordinator and Programme PSO. I am pleased to say that during this time, I have developed good communication skills resulting in the growth of relationships with many stakeholders, workstream leads and senior management across various client sites.

Kudos to Ntegra for not just having your best interests at heart, but for bringing your employees along with you! My achievements so far are a testament to the team I have around me and the support and training I continue to receive from my employer.

With additional courses approaching in 2019 and further courses booked in 2020, my future at Ntegra will be busy, eventful and exciting!

As for my goal, I’ll keep you posted 😊