When I started this blog I was just starting my career, on two fronts. I was just starting to try to take illustration and design a little bit more seriously. I had also just started my first proper job, a role on a grad scheme, in London.
That was over two years ago now. I’ve been through that grad scheme, I’ve learned a lot about communications, about digital, about consulting, about design, about what I want out of a career. I’ve also now spent a full year in my role as a consultant at Transform, but what that means day to day is always shifting and evolving.
Now, I’ve spoken a little bit on here and in an interview with Lecture in Progress about what I do. But I thought it was worth explaining properly, because when I started this blog I had no idea what the kinds of roles out there really were, or what I wanted to do.
I think it’s hard to imagine a role when you only know what the title is, or if you haven’t interacted with the industry. By that I mean, it’s probably not too hard to imagine what a waitress’s role would involve because we’ve all been to a coffee shop or a restaurant, but it’s much harder to imagine what a food specifications technologist might do, even though it’s still about what would end up on our plates.
I’m not a food specifications technologist (if anyone is please let me know what you do!) I’m a consultant, AKA the vaguest job title in the world. I work for a company which transforms digital services and strategies. Specifically I work within a team that designs services – everything from Argos’s click and collect to being able to appeal a Home Office decision online.
What that means day to day is that I do a number of things, mainly focused on research and analysis. A big chunk of my days are centred around talking to people (as an introvert this is probably a weird choice of career path I know) and asking them about how they do their jobs or use certain services. I analyse what motivates them, what things they struggle with and can be improved, what works well, and how they’ll likely use whatever service I’m working on. I then take that information back to a team who I work with to develop a plan for a service (everything from what the process will be to how staff are trained), then feed into its development (the coding of the digital bit) and improvement. It’s a job that’s about learning about lots of different people and translating what you’ve learned into a service that hopefully helps them.
I work in small project based teams. That means we work in a very focused way around one problem for a fixed period of time. This has pros and cons. I really like project work where you get your teeth stuck in, and all work together to a common goal. You never get bored and have the opportunity to become a temporary expert in lots of different things. But that means you never have too much of a routine, from how your day goes, where you work, or even just having a desk to yourself.
I’ve worked on all kinds of projects from public services, to internal business and government processes, to things for retail. Personally, I always find the public services the most rewarding, because you have the opportunity to really help people, and to do so on a much bigger scale. But they’re also the projects that can be the trickiest to navigate.
So, that’s what I do right now. I don’t know if it’s what I’ll always be doing, but it’s keeping me on my toes and pushing me to grow and I think that’s what I need for the moment.
