I joined IBM in August 2011 straight from college at the age of 18 after achieving A-Levels in Law, Psychology and English Literature and Language.
My first role was in the WebSphere Software Support team supporting our customers with any queries they had with the software. In parallel to my daily role in the WebSphere team I was also working towards my Advanced Apprenticeship in IT and I achieved this qualification in 2014. During this time I was also awarded a Client Value Outstanding Technical Achievement Award for a tool that I developed along with a colleague which aimed to help us as a business improve client satisfaction.
In January 2014 I moved into the zSeries support team which is where I am today. My current role is a zSeries Software Support Specialist. zSeries are our big mainframe servers which many large businesses use to run their entire enterprise. An average day entails working on PMR’s (Problem Management Records). These are used to manage technical queries and/or issues experienced by customers with the z/OS operating system. In addition, I’m part of the Recovery Managers Team. This entails providing 24/7 support for one of our major customers.
I have developed a close relationship with the British Computer Society and featured as one of their Women in IT series for the month of June 2015. I was one of the first technicians to become part of the BCS Register of IT Technicians (RITTech), helping to develop the registration process. I was also delighted to be asked present at the official launch of the register alongside others such as Lord Sainsbury, Jos Creese (President of BCS), and Chi Onwurah (Shadow Minister for BIS). I am also the first IBMer to achieve an Advanced Apprenticeship in IT qualification.