James P.
About me
| James P. | |
| Physics | |
| Physics | |
| Undergraduate | |
| Halifax | |
| 2008 | |
| Australia |
My employment
| Services Engineer | |
| Ericsson | |
| Australia | |
| 2008 |
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A day in the life of a Services Engineer in Australia
My career history
My career started in Ericsson UK located in Coventry. I joined as part of a 18 month Graduate programme. The course was divided into three areas: Business Skills, Personal Skills and Technical Skills. Business and personal skills were developed via very interesting and interactive workshops and training courses, and have proven to be extremely valuable later on.
From a technical point of view, I was able to develop quickly under the mentoring of more senior members of the team. During my 18 month Graduate scheme(2008-2010) I was able to take part in over 13 delivery projects which involved travelling to customer locations in different countries across Europe (and even one trip to Japan!) to deploy Telecom/IT infrastructures and provide consultative skills. Each project saw me taking on more responsibility and expanding my skill set rapidly.
In 2010 I applied successfully for a job with Ericsson Australia. Over one year later I am still here, involved in extremely complex delivery projects to local customers. Although I am not travelling to different countries as in my first 18 months, the difficulty and responsibilities assigned to me have increased dramatically, providing me with a challenge every day.
Where I hope to be in 5 years
I hope to develop my technical and business skills with the aim of rising within the organisation; to explore new challenges and work closely with the company and our customers to continue to deliver exciting solutions.
My advice to students considering work
I would say that whilst competence in your chosen field is important, the most important feature that an employer looks for is attitude.
There is no point hiring someone who is an Einstein in their field if they do not communicate well in a business environment or are not able to work in a team.
A person who is highly self motivated, eager to learn and always willing to work in a team and take feedback on board will be very attractive to the employer. Remember that technical skills can be learnt relatively easily, you have just finished a degree!!
What I do
My work has previously been divided into two areas.
Consultative/Integration role: where I support the design and execution of a solution tailor made to our customers.
Customer Support: where I provide support to Global Customers, running solutions based on the products I have specialized in.
On a day to day basis, I will be expected to manage my own time whilst providing expert knowledge on my product set to the project teams and customer support teams. Usually I will be pushing myself to learn something new and explore in greater depth the solution I am currently working on, with the aim of delivering a result beyond the set expectations. Recently the Customer Support side has been taken on by another team, so I have been able to focus all my problem solving skills on developing a cutting edge solution for our local customers. If the delivery of this project is successful, it could end up as an excellent Best Practice case for the rest of the organisation who work on this particular product set.
I work face to face with customers on many occasions and represent the company to the best of my ability. Customers expect me to provide them with a professional and expert opinion, and to be looking after their interests.
Working as part of a team is the most important aspect of my work life. I am a keen knowledge sharer within the team and we work closely, leveraging each other's unique experiences to help ensure excellence in the work we do.
What I like most
I like the fact that on a daily basis I am challenged with something new and exciting; that I work with a great team to understand the challenge and come up with an interesting solution.
What I like least
With large companies come a lot of internal processes. Although I fully understand them and appreciate their importance, sometimes it can be a small hindrance to the day-to-day work. But this is not a bad thing, processes are important to maintain quality and conformity across the organisation.
What would I change? Nothing - so far my career is meeting and going beyond my expectations. I work hard and am driven to do my best every day. This attitude has opened many opportunities.
Next steps...
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