Tasha first talked to us in 2020, shortly before Covid struck and working life changed for so many people. In March 2022 Tasha updated us and described how two years in her working role and the pandemic changed her life and career, including accelerating aspects of her professional development: “When Covid hit I wasn’t furloughed when many of my peers were but I’m so glad that I wasn’t. I needed to work to get through it and career wise it was actually beneficial to me to some extent as I also got to work very closely with senior leaders to help solve problems reacting to the pandemic like Track and Trace. My personal life also changed very quickly, because we were living with my parents and my mum was shielding which meant it was difficult for us to go to work, my now fiancé and I decided to move into a flat during the first lockdown. It was stressful but also accelerated many areas of my life.”
Remind us how you got into IT
I did what could be considered strange A-levels for what I have pursued: ICT, art, history and English Literature – but they have each helped me in different ways. I graduated with a First in Business Computing BSc Hons from Brunel University London in 2018. My degree included work experience at GlaxoSmithKline.
Has your choice of a career in technology proved a good decision?
I wanted to get into IT because it is the future. Technology is at a crucial turning point; we have created many technologies for many daily tasks in our lives and now these separate technologies are being consolidated into a single point assisted by the Internet of Things. I think this will unlock the next generation of seamless technology. It is exciting to see how this can be incorporated into designs. How it progresses is probably in the hands of how companies want to use the data and behaviour analytics that come with effectively tracking the use of that technology. So far, I think such developments are exceeding my expectations, being able to unlock my car from my phone but also be able to create a presentation through the same device, my daily tasks are all frictionless.
How has your job changed?
As a solutions architect, I worked with colleagues designing new, or making changes to, existing IT systems and processes, recommending the right technologies. The stereotype of an IT employee sitting in the basement coding all day is not a true reflection of the IT industry, there are such a wide range of jobs involved in technology. I have now completed my training and am a fully-fledged Solutions Architect. Because SA’s are general I was put on any technology or business domain project which gave me experience across digital web journeys, tech to support brands expanding internationally, and having the opportunity to work with, help and represent the Contact Centre technology to create a roadmap.
I particularly like the business partnering and putting forward suggestions of how to solve a problem, which led me to move into a new role within the team as Innovation Manager.
How has your own Internet Marketing business developed?
In addition, to my 9-5 job, I run my own company, Viberse, which has several small business clients, who we help with social media, email marketing and WordPress development. I help deliver relevant content to my clients’ fan base to help them widen their online reach and provide interesting information to their subscribers. I’ve learnt a lot about organisation, managing expectations and communications which all helps the day job too.
Having a full time job and running a business means it can sometimes be hard to juggle everything, but it is also very fulfilling. If you’re thinking about starting your own business, what you create needs to be something you are passionate about enough to drive yourself. The key for me is to have a goal to work towards; my goal is buying a house. This really drives me to work as hard as I can.
How you are thinking now about the next steps and what are your long term career goals?
Good question… All I know is I’m really enjoying what I’m doing right now and want to see how I can shape the Innovation Manager role and what can be achieved. Further than that I would like to continue to gain as much experience as possible. I’m enjoying mentoring some sixth formers and this is helping me to mindshift from being a junior member of staff to trying to lead. I’m going to invest in coaching and one thing I’m really pleased can happen again after the pandemic is networking and meeting people, I like to learn from other’s career paths but don’t want to limit myself by saying I want to be X.
Advice
Educate yourself on what working in IT really is like by doing work experience, internships etc and knowing you don’t need to go to university to succeed.
Understand where you can see yourself working. There are plenty of online tests you can do, to figure out where you may fit into an organisation. The 3 key things to focus on when deciding are: 1) What industries do I care about? 2) What roles do I prefer? 3) What size of business do I want to work for?
