Jessica. Computing Mathematics Graduate. University of South Wales.

When I was at university, I had very little idea of what career I wanted to pursue. I really liked programming although I didn’t have much experience with it, and I loved maths, so the four-year degree course I was on at the University of Glamorgan (now University of South Wales) was a perfect match for me – Computing Mathematics, which was a split of 80% maths and 20% programming, along with a placement year in a related field.

I loved the course, especially the balance between the two disciplines - but three years later, I was still at a loss as to where my career should go. I spent my placement year as a software developer, but I struggled sometimes with the nitty-gritty of development and battling with older programming languages. I did, however, spend a few weeks towards the end of my placement working directly with customers, figuring out what they wanted, and taking suggested defects and enhancements back to the development team. This was by far my favourite part of the whole placement.

During my final year at university, I received a call from Gen at the GRB, who was happy to talk with me about my experiences and future career path. When I told her about how I liked technology, but that I really loved working with people and solving problems, she suggested Technical Consulting – working with customers to improve their processes, using technology. I’d never considered it as a career path until that point – honestly, I’d not really heard much about it - but on talking about it further with Gen, it sounded like a fantastic fit for my interests and personality. Gen said, “There’s an opening for a graduate position with a great technical consulting company, and it sounds perfect for you, but the deadline is today. Can you send me your CV now, and if accepted, could you make it to an interview day in London next week?” I said yes, of course!

The next thing I knew, I was in a hotel in London on quite an intense interview day, and thankfully, I was offered the job. After graduation, I began my professional career as a Graduate Technical Consultant, learning about a tool called ServiceNow. I was still able to program with JavaScript, but the core of the job was delivering ServiceNow projects to customers of all types and sizes, to identify issues and improve their employee and customer experiences.

Now, a decade later, I’m still very much on the same path. I’m a Principal Consultant at Unifii, a ServiceNow Elite partner. I’ve found my niche in technical training, which I absolutely love. I’ve worked on projects with customers in industries ranging from healthcare, financial services, public sector, energy, and more. I’ve also been lucky enough to be able to travel with work, my favourite overseas projects being in the US (Phoenix and Houston). I’m so grateful to have had these opportunities!

In an unexpected twist, I even ended up marrying someone I met on that very first interview day, and now we’re expecting our first child in April 2024!