What does a Tech Consultant do? | Pros and Cons of Working in Tech? - Clip

[00:00:00] and I suppose the way you've, you know, just explained ServiceNow is something that is part of your role as a consultant.

[00:00:08] Um, breaking down, you know, what exactly is the technology that the company is going to be using, helping them to understand the technology, helping them to get sort of recommendations on what they need to use and that sort of thing.

[00:00:22] But I wanted to ask you, as a consultant in tech, what are those responsibilities of someone in your role or in a consultant's role in general?

[00:00:33] What are those responsibilities, you know, for people who are sort of looking at consultant roles and seeing if maybe this is something that I could do or get into or prefer in terms of, you know, when I get into tech or other industries as well.

[00:00:47] But what is sort of the, what are the key responsibilities of a consultant?

[00:00:53] I'd say the main and biggest responsibility of a consultant, as much as you need that kind of technical background aspect, is to be their trusted advisor.

[00:01:03] So specifically in my role, I work very closely with my sales counterparts.

[00:01:09] So where they kind of do a lot of the selling and letting them know about licensing and things like that, I will kind of come in and have a look at their, if they're existing customers, for example, have a look at their estate, have a look at their enterprise.

[00:01:22] Maybe see what they're utilizing currently, let them know that they've maybe they're paying for this and not using this.

[00:01:30] Just have a look and try and like get them to where they want to be sort of like a customer first sort of advisory thing, because that's what we always call ourselves the trusted advisors of the sales team.

[00:01:40] So I guess you need quite a lot of that people skills or those soft skills as well as the technical knowledge, because as much as like we can say we might be talking to an IT team one day or the change manager.

[00:01:53] But then again, we might be talking to the CEO who just wants to talk big strategy.

[00:01:57] So you kind of need like a blend of that knowledge all the way across the board.

[00:02:02] It's truly a role where you need that combination of technical understanding and communication skills and being able to explain, like we always say, technical concepts to non-technical people.

[00:02:19] Exactly.

[00:02:20] And technical concepts to technical people.

[00:02:23] So it's it's it's it's an interesting role.

[00:02:26] And it seems like there's a certain skill set that is required to work in this role that that you have not only, you know, through working in that role, but also through, you know, your study of law and just yourself and what you've gone through in the law side of things that really translates well into tech.

[00:02:45] Yeah.

[00:02:47] Which is which is amazing.

[00:02:48] And another point that that is kind of stressed and has been stressed in recent episodes is highlighting your transferable skills.

[00:02:58] There are loads of people, like I said, on this in this audience that they want to transition, but they're like, I don't have any tech background or anything to do with tech.

[00:03:10] But you do have something you're transitioning from somewhere and there are transferable skills or things that do transfer well into the tech.

[00:03:19] You just have to find where it can and you have to market that to, you know, hiring managers and employers.

[00:03:27] One hundred percent.

[00:03:27] Yeah.

[00:03:29] So I wanted to move on to a really interesting question.

[00:03:33] And of course, we talk about tech a lot on the podcast online.

[00:03:40] Lots of people glamorize working in tech.

[00:03:42] Lots of people say it's amazing.

[00:03:44] Just money.

[00:03:45] Just just all this good stuff.

[00:03:47] Right.

[00:03:48] High salaries.

[00:03:49] You know, exciting work or all the above.

[00:03:52] I wanted to ask you what one pro of working in tech is, but also one con of working in this industry is for you.

[00:04:02] I think my biggest pro is the flexibility of it and not just in, for example, working from home and having a lot of remote calls and things like that.

[00:04:13] I'd say in terms of really bringing your whole self to work.

[00:04:19] So there isn't really, for example, in like other more rigid industries like the legal sector or maybe like financial services, you've kind of got to be that corporate in a box person, which is absolutely fine if that's what suits you.

[00:04:32] But I guess for me, I'm much more of a free spirited person.

[00:04:35] So I kind of enjoy like being a bit more colorful, you know, like wearing all my bangles, having my nails done kind of thing.

[00:04:41] And there's kind of like no judgment from it.

[00:04:44] I guess we're all just techies in one big tech space, just being ourselves kind of thing.

[00:04:48] So I really enjoy that.

[00:04:50] And that would be my one pro.

[00:04:51] I'd say a con might be that technology is so vast so that there is there's just so much to learn all of the time and your brain doesn't switch off.

[00:05:04] You're just constantly finding things and answering questions and constantly learning, which can also be seen as a positive.

[00:05:12] But I feel like sometimes it's good to have that switch off and like break from work, which sometimes you might not get working in technology, albeit depending in these.

[00:05:24] What's it called the category that you might go into?

[00:05:26] But I find in my role, there's just a lot of learning, a lot of questions, and it is constant.

[00:05:31] So I really, really relate to your con, especially like that.

[00:05:36] That is something that I experience in my roles.

[00:05:42] There's just so much to learn.

[00:05:44] And I said this in like a in like a real recently.

[00:05:49] If you're not someone who enjoys learning new things, doing online courses or certifications and just picking up new skills and you're not willing to keep doing that, then it might not be the industry for you.

[00:06:09] Yeah, it's definitely an industry that there's going to be more to learn.

[00:06:14] And tomorrow you will probably have a part of your role that you've never heard of before.

[00:06:22] Like you have a piece of tech that you need to implement or tell someone about that you haven't heard of, that you don't know, that you don't understand.

[00:06:32] You know, they talk about how, especially like at the beginning of your career, the best engineers are the best Googlers or probably today the best chat GPTers.

[00:06:46] But like, this is a real thing in tech.

[00:06:49] There's a lot to learn.

[00:06:52] And, you know, there are, of course, roles that are super like repetitive, maybe, and might have the same skills.

[00:06:59] But you can't afford to be really complacent in one area.

[00:07:03] You need to keep learning those skills and growing.

[00:07:06] Right.

[00:07:07] Because of the vast rate that technology grows as well.

[00:07:10] We have to keep up.

[00:07:11] That is, it's just that with like cat and mouse kind of thing.

[00:07:14] We're constantly chasing it.

[00:07:16] So, yeah.

[00:07:18] So true.

[00:07:19] Now, I want to talk about, I want to really talk to the audience with this next question.

[00:07:26] And give them some key advice from your experience and your navigation of the tech industry.

[00:07:36] I wanted to ask you, Emma, how you would advise someone on transitioning to tech with no tech background.

[00:07:46] What would be those key tips that you would give to someone without a technology background?

[00:07:52] Maybe they have a background in some other industry, whether it's law, whether it's, what else?

[00:07:59] English, whether it's something else.

[00:08:03] And transitioning into this tech industry, because honestly, this audience that we speak to, there are so many people that have this situation.

[00:08:14] Transitioning.

[00:08:15] They're coming from somewhere else.

[00:08:16] So what would be the advice you'd give to these people?

[00:08:20] I think the first thing that I'd advise is don't be afraid.

[00:08:24] Literally just take the leap because that's, I guess, the first part of the problem is not believing in yourself because, oh, I don't have the experience.

[00:08:33] So I can't maybe do this or I don't really know this.

[00:08:35] So I can't.

[00:08:36] You can 100% you can because of exactly the point you made earlier of those transferable skills.

[00:08:42] They will get you so many places that you, again, wouldn't have thought of.

[00:08:46] So, for example, myself, when applying to this technology scheme, I didn't previously have any technology background behind me, but I was a bartender.

[00:08:55] Right. I used my skills from bartending, from upselling, from telling people things, things like that, and bringing the confidence that I had from the bar to this.

[00:09:05] And they were impressed with me and I got the role kind of thing.

[00:09:08] It doesn't necessarily have to be something technical that you've done anything, any example that you've done that can relate and brings the skills that they want to see from that role will be sufficient.

[00:09:19] And again, kind of like just being yourself as well, letting your personality shine will also be a massive thing.

[00:09:26] Another thing I'd say is that there are loads of different free courses out there and sort of free programs that you can do.

[00:09:33] So I know I mentioned specifically for girls, I guess because I am a girl, that we've got black girls in tech.

[00:09:40] You've also got code first girls as well, which is a really good one.

[00:09:45] And I'm pretty sure there are loads of other different ones and free events and free things like the Black Tech Fest to go to.

[00:09:54] Also just utilizing LinkedIn, reaching out to people and messaging them and seeing how did you do it?

[00:10:00] How did you do that? So say, for example, like the law students, anyone who's previously a law student, they can reach out to me and have a look at what I've done kind of thing and see how I can maybe help them navigate.

[00:10:10] Or there might be someone coming from health care and navigating it.

[00:10:13] So I think LinkedIn is a really powerful tool that people neglect to utilize as well.

[00:10:18] Even if you feel like you're annoying, annoy them anyway, is what I say.

[00:10:24] Some some really great tips and some really practical tips that that could really help the audience.

[00:10:31] Firstly, not being afraid. Super important.

[00:10:34] Just start. Dive in.

[00:10:38] If you're excited about it, you need to you need to just take those steps in making it happen.

[00:10:45] You know, lots of free resources online to do the learning, especially like getting started, figuring out, is this something I want to do?

[00:10:53] Yeah, there's free stuff that you can do on the side to figure that out. Right.

[00:10:58] And then go from there and then find like the whole thing about LinkedIn, reaching out to people, speaking to people is so important.

[00:11:05] I've spoken on on the channel about how I got my first tech job through reaching out to people like the thing is, a lot of people didn't reply.

[00:11:15] And that could be like, ah, he didn't reply. I'm not gonna do this again.

[00:11:19] But like I sent it. I sent like the same message to like a hundred people and three or four replied.

[00:11:28] Some replied saying, I don't have anything like I don't I don't know.

[00:11:33] Ninety 90 percent ed me.

[00:11:35] And then there was one person who was like, oh, I actually have something that you could interview for.

[00:11:40] And through that, I got my first tech job, which was incredible.

[00:11:46] So that is a real way of being super proactive, not just networking with recruiters or people that can give you a job,

[00:11:52] but reaching out to people in the positions that you'd want to be in and asking for advice.

[00:11:57] So that's a real good advice.