What's your job about?
I work for the Emerging Digital Solutions team in DXC Technology and as such am involved in building and selling solutions in Artificial Intelligence, Internet of Things and Augmented & Virtual Reality.
Currently, my work consists of creating solutions for our clients in artificial intelligence and making our current solutions even better for their uses. I am also involved in web development and optimisation for this and another project. These processes see me both as a business analyst and a developer.
The best way to think about it would be, think of all the cool new tech you’ve heard coming up in the last few years, that’s what Emerging Digital Solutions works with, and its great!
What's your background?
Grew up in Australia, born and raised. Lived most of my life in Melbourne bar a small stint in Malaysia for 4 months on exchange in during university.
I applied for a lot of graduate positions after finishing at university, and this position was one of the offers I got given. I chose this one due to the combination of technical and business activities I would be involved in, and the experience I would have both with something I was familiar with (technical) as well as something new (business). I have been in this position for just under 2 years.
I am a firm advocator for travel, and I believe that it is a very important to get some travel under your belt, even while you’re at your job. Taking time to yourself to explore and relax, as well as experiencing other cultures and growing your independence and maturity is very important. I have had many trips of at least a month length to South East Asia, Europe and North America several times in my life and have even lived abroad in Malaysia for a little bit. You will be amazed by how much you can learn from these experiences.
I also spend a few hours a week working on my creative side. I study and perform improv comedy and I also spend time drawing on my iPad or working on videos when I get the opportunity.
Could someone with a different background do your job?
Yes, I believe that even though my job can sometimes be technical, part of my job doesn’t require technical understanding or is at a level of understanding that anyone with the right drive can learn the technical knowledge to do. The environment I work in is very supportive and as such allows for lots of learning, and I can name many times where I’ve learned new things at work.
While a technical background does help, its not essential, and I believe that the most important characteristic to have is to be determined and always willing to jump onto something new or learn how to do new things. Having good team working skills and responsibility to work on your own accord is important, never being afraid to ask questions when you aren’t sure. It is good important to be a good team player. There will be times where you will need help from your team or will find yourselves spending lots of time together, you want to make sure you get along and can rely on each other, so being a good team player is a massive plus!
What's the coolest thing about your job?
I love my team. I think that the team I work with is very supportive and we’re more like friends than co-workers. We respect each other, we help each other out, and all of that is important when you’re in a work environment for at least 40 hours a week. I love getting a project completed in the correct way. Being able to say that you were part of a team that made an amazing product is a great feeling in the workplace, especially if you’re working on things that you would find yourself interested in during your down time as well, that’s when you know you’re doing the right thing.
What are the limitations of your job?
I do bare responsibility, but my responsibility is mostly on myself. When assigned a task, I won’t be micromanaged to complete my job, I will just be expected to have it done at the time that it needs to be done. If that means working odd hours to complete it, then so be it. I do however hope to get more responsibilities in the future. The biggest limitation of my job would be that sometimes I find that I would have to decline working on a cool project because despite having the time, I know that my technical or business capabilities are not enough. I can combat this though by teaching myself the skills to be able to take on that role next time though, so the limitation is not concrete.
3 pieces of advice for yourself when you were a student...