Beginning my career with Incremental while simultaneously studying in higher education has equipped me with the skills required to succeed in the business world.
As adolescents, we often imagine what our early career in the working world may look like. We may think that perhaps the most common route into work is to:
- See a job advert
- Apply for a vacant role
- Attend a successful interview
- Accept an employer offer letter
- Start working the ‘day-job’ a number of weeks later.
But the truth is, there are many different paths into job roles and varying working arrangements out there. Compared to most at Incremental, I have had a pretty unique career journey, balancing my role as a full-time Project Coordinator with finishing my Business Management graduate apprentice degree at nearby Strathclyde University’s award winning Business School.
So how did I end up where I am? Let’s rewind a little…
Choosing a career path
As a child, I grew up with aspirations of becoming a footballer. I quickly realised that this was more of a pipe dream than a reality, and so began to wonder what I’d do next. When I left school, I became interested in finance and wanted to learn more about accounting.
I completed a Higher National Diploma (HND) in accounting, before moving into a 4-year Business Management Honours degree at Strathclyde University in 2018. Part of the degree required me to take on a full-time role in the corporate world, and I was lucky enough to start a full-time role as a junior business analyst at Redspire (later acquired by Incremental Group in 2021). Unlike many of my university peers who had worked at their respective organisations for years prior to joining the graduate apprenticeship programme, I started my professional career and the business management course in the same week, meaning I quickly had to master the art of balancing a full-time job with higher education.
The business analyst role was my first full-time job, having previously worked part-time as a barman at a local pub in Falkirk whilst I studied. My line manager recognised that this was my first real experience of a corporate job and so, gradually increased my workload and responsibilities as I grew into the role.
Life as a junior business analyst
Working as a Junior Business Analyst gave me the opportunity to support the business’ vision to digitally transform Financial Services organisations via creating business flows that don’t just improve internal operations, but revolutionise how their customers bank, save, borrow, buy, interact and transact.
“Being able to gain on-the-job experience and study at University on a demanding graduate scheme has been incredible. However, it hasn’t been without hard work, sacrifice and lots of focus. Despite the challenge, it has been so rewarding.”
I thrive on balancing a my day job of working in a fast-paced, client facing environment with successfully managing my Business Management studies. Balancing a full-time job with higher education allows me to apply my academic learning straight into my job immediately.
Personal development opportunities
There have been many opportunities since starting my professional career which have been crucial to my development. For example, I have shadowed project managers across public and private sectors projects and had the opportunity to learn Prince2 and Scrum methodologies through external training courses. These opportunities have complimented my learnings at university, enabling me to develop my technical and people-focused skills.
The support I have provided as a business analyst has opened up a potential career path as a Dynamics Functional Consultant, post finishing my degree this summer, and that’s something I’m super excited to explore and apply all of my knowledge too. But until then, I continue to enjoy and work hard as a project coordinator, balancing a full-time job with higher education.
Project coordinator day-to-day responsibilities
In my current role as a project coordinator, I have learned a lot from my colleagues – particularly those in the project management office (PMO) – in terms of learning the fundamentals of managing projects, stakeholder management and mitigating risk. I have also gained valuable technical skills and have developed a strong interest in Dynamics and Power BI.
On a day-to-day basis, my job as a project coordinator involves managing all internal PMO activities across Financial Services and Capital Markets. These include working closely with project managers and theme leads to produce weekly surgery reports, ensuring all project artifacts are updated, tracking project budget/spend and maintaining a Hub planner as product owner.
What’s next?
As aforementioned, I intend to transition from the PMO to a more technical role, once I complete my degree this summer. Through the objective-setting process here at Incremental, the business has granted me the opportunity this quarter to focus on my studies and prepare to transition to a functional role. Over the next five years I hope to have gained an in-depth understanding of the Microsoft Dynamics 365 stack and contribute to projects as a Dynamics Functional consultant… Watch this space!
To find out more about career opportunities with Incremental Group, get in touch today for a confidential chat.