PLEASE TELL US ABOUT YOUR CAREER JOURNEY SO FAR.
I started working at Capital 1 as a graduate back in 2014. It was a rotation scheme where every 6 months I was rotating jobs, so I have experience with being a Business Analyst, a Scrum Master, and then a Quality Engineer where I spent 1 year in this role as there was an opportunity to learn how to automate our testing.
This is where I essentially started learning how to code and reached out for a mentor who was incredibly invested in my learning. He mentored me for 2-3 years in automated testing as well as writing unit tests, which typically wasn’t expected of a tester. In my time at Capital 1, I moved from a level 1-3 before getting an opportunity to be a QE manager where I managed 9 QEs. I then applied for the Engineering Manager job at Moonpig where I set up a brand new team.
WHAT INITIALLY ATTRACTED YOU TO YOUR NEW ROLE AT MOONPIG?
I was very much drawn to the opportunity of setting up a new team up from scratch. I loved being involved in setting up a team vision, getting everyone aligned, and finding ways that work for us all. We were all new to Moonpig so we all learned together. We have delivered some great work as a team and had fun doing so!
WHAT’S YOUR FAVOURITE THING ABOUT YOUR ROLE AT MOONPIG?
Hands down the people I work with. The engineers in my team are great and incredibly motivated to learn and deliver features that our customers would benefit from. I love trying to find opportunities for them to grow in their own career and seeing them improve day by day. I also really like the team setup, having a dedicated PM in the team as well as a designer.
We can make decisions quickly and have designs ready to work on. It makes collaborating much easier and we can deliver quality work.
WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE OTHER WOMEN THINKING ABOUT MAKING A CAREER TRANSITION?
I came from a Sport and Exercise Science background and was an estate agent before moving into a technical role. My main advice would be to take your time and absorb as much information as you can. It took me a while to get promoted from a level 1 to a 2 and there were others who were promoted much faster than me. Taking the time to really learn and feel confident in the area that was new to me was key.
Another thing I would highly recommend is finding a mentor! I had an incredible mentor who really invested a lot of time in helping me with learning a completely new job role. Heavily lean on people who you admire in the role you are transitioning in and learn as much from them as possible. They will want you to succeed as much as you want to!
