GCSE:-
Mathematics - B
English Literature - B
English Language - A
Russian - D
French - C
Information Technology - A
Science (Double Award) - B
History - C
A-Level: -
Computing - A
Media Studies - C
AS-Level:-
English - A
HNC: -
HNC: -
Music Technology- Double Distinction
Background
I left 6th form 10 years ago without any inclination towards a particular vocation, but with a strong personal enthusiasm for computing, particularly security-related aspects - network security & penetration testing, forensics, and programming. I spent a year backpacking around Australia and New Zealand, worked a variety of jobs in a wide range of challenging environments, and studied Music Technology at college. It was at this point that I felt I had experienced a wide enough breadth of what the world had to offer for now, and began looking for a career that I could focus on and progress in.
I joined the Met Office on the IT Trainee Scheme after an intense but eventually successful application and selection process. This was a 2 year scheme designed to recruit both graduates and non-graduates with the right mixture of enthusiasm for technology, ability to absorb, learn, process and apply new information in a variety of contexts, and technical skills - though the focus was on the softer skills, rather than the applicant's current amount of technical skills and knowledge.
The Trainee Scheme at the Met Office allowed my to gain a large breadth and depth of technical skills whilst expanding my soft skills, through rotating between different teams within the IT department, attending a variety of technical courses, delivering presentations, and communicating on a daily basis with a variety of people; this could range from internal colleagues and customers to external customers including the armed forces on deployment, members of the public, and commercial customers.
For the subsequent 2 years after the end of the IT Trainee Scheme, I was lead developer on a Business Intelligence project, from inception through to going live in a production environment and providing ongoing support. It was as this project was drawing to a close and moving into a business-as-usual state that I began to look for a new challenge.
After examining my options, I submitted a personal development request to the Met Office detailing my ambition to become a technical Information and Computer Security expert, my selection of training (Bsc Information and Computer Security at the University of Plymouth), the benefits that both the Met Office and I as an individual could expect, and the value that the training would instantly add to the business. I also outlined the potential threats and difficulties that came with the request, such as leaving a knowledge gap as I fit my studies (be it part-time or full-time) in with my work or supporting the applications that I had developed during critical time periods (i.e. when the Business Intelligence systems were being used for end of month and year-end executive reporting) when out of the office. I felt that this was an important part of the application so that I could demonstrate due diligence and forethought regarding my responsibilities.
I was given approval to begin my part-time undergraduate course, with a 1:4 split of days allocated to university studies and Met Office work. This presented a huge time-management challenge, as even fitting 50% of an undergraduate year into one day a week has been a gargantuan undertaking. In my first year, I achieved the following grades:
Computer Systems: 81.82%
Database Development: 74.24%
Software Engineering: 96.57%
I feel this is a tremendous achievement, considering the challenges I have faced from time-management, and considerable pressure coming from being the lead developer and support colleague for an office-wide Business Intelligence and reporting suite. I have just reached the end of my first term of my second year which will allow me to finish off the final 6 modules of stage one, and I hope to continue achieving the same levels of success and enjoyment as last year.
(N.B as of today, I scored 87% in my Computer and Information Security exam).
I find that an effective baseline to review my current position as an IT Professional is a SWOT analysis, including my behaviours, values, skills and performance. This is summarized below:
SWOT analysis
Strengths: -
An area of skills that I am missing out on in order to start a business are business and management skills. This is something that I have not studied academically, and this will need to be addressed at the right time; however, this does not need to happen immediately as it will conflict with my current studies. I am considering an evening course during the summer holidays.
I feel that writing this reflective document has been a very worthwhile exercise, as it has helped me to develop a plan as an IT Professional in terms of what my goals actually are and how to achieve them, and allowed me to spot areas of weakness such as my lack of business skills and procrastination habits.
I think that this process will be something I repeat each year at work as well as the SFIA assessment, to help me mark progress and re-evaluate goals.
SFIA Framework Evaluation
Autonomy
Background
I left 6th form 10 years ago without any inclination towards a particular vocation, but with a strong personal enthusiasm for computing, particularly security-related aspects - network security & penetration testing, forensics, and programming. I spent a year backpacking around Australia and New Zealand, worked a variety of jobs in a wide range of challenging environments, and studied Music Technology at college. It was at this point that I felt I had experienced a wide enough breadth of what the world had to offer for now, and began looking for a career that I could focus on and progress in.
I joined the Met Office on the IT Trainee Scheme after an intense but eventually successful application and selection process. This was a 2 year scheme designed to recruit both graduates and non-graduates with the right mixture of enthusiasm for technology, ability to absorb, learn, process and apply new information in a variety of contexts, and technical skills - though the focus was on the softer skills, rather than the applicant's current amount of technical skills and knowledge.
The Trainee Scheme at the Met Office allowed my to gain a large breadth and depth of technical skills whilst expanding my soft skills, through rotating between different teams within the IT department, attending a variety of technical courses, delivering presentations, and communicating on a daily basis with a variety of people; this could range from internal colleagues and customers to external customers including the armed forces on deployment, members of the public, and commercial customers.
For the subsequent 2 years after the end of the IT Trainee Scheme, I was lead developer on a Business Intelligence project, from inception through to going live in a production environment and providing ongoing support. It was as this project was drawing to a close and moving into a business-as-usual state that I began to look for a new challenge.
After examining my options, I submitted a personal development request to the Met Office detailing my ambition to become a technical Information and Computer Security expert, my selection of training (Bsc Information and Computer Security at the University of Plymouth), the benefits that both the Met Office and I as an individual could expect, and the value that the training would instantly add to the business. I also outlined the potential threats and difficulties that came with the request, such as leaving a knowledge gap as I fit my studies (be it part-time or full-time) in with my work or supporting the applications that I had developed during critical time periods (i.e. when the Business Intelligence systems were being used for end of month and year-end executive reporting) when out of the office. I felt that this was an important part of the application so that I could demonstrate due diligence and forethought regarding my responsibilities.
I was given approval to begin my part-time undergraduate course, with a 1:4 split of days allocated to university studies and Met Office work. This presented a huge time-management challenge, as even fitting 50% of an undergraduate year into one day a week has been a gargantuan undertaking. In my first year, I achieved the following grades:
Computer Systems: 81.82%
Database Development: 74.24%
Software Engineering: 96.57%
I feel this is a tremendous achievement, considering the challenges I have faced from time-management, and considerable pressure coming from being the lead developer and support colleague for an office-wide Business Intelligence and reporting suite. I have just reached the end of my first term of my second year which will allow me to finish off the final 6 modules of stage one, and I hope to continue achieving the same levels of success and enjoyment as last year.
(N.B as of today, I scored 87% in my Computer and Information Security exam).
I find that an effective baseline to review my current position as an IT Professional is a SWOT analysis, including my behaviours, values, skills and performance. This is summarized below:
SWOT analysis
Strengths: -
- Technical Skills - These are skills that I gained and
expanded upon at the Met Office and at Plymouth University. These
skills give me a grounding in a breadth of areas, and I hope to take them
forward to an expert level over the coming years (See SFIA Technical
Skills)
- Presentation and communication skills - The IT
Trainee Scheme required me to deliver a fortnightly presentation for 2
years, and this is an essential skill to have in the modern.
- Time-management - This is an important skill to have
under normal circumstances, but as I am studying 50% of an undergraduate
degree in 1 day per week and trying to balance that with work, it has
become essential that I am organised and prepared.
- Analytical and problem-solving
skills - Problem solving is a skill that I have had to learn through
necessity while working at the Met Office; I have often been required to use
tools that I am unfamiliar with, but I was and still am able to apply
problem solving methodologies to them and contribute effectively.
- Team-working - Whilst on the IT Trainee Scheme, I was
required to rotate through 4 different teams over two years. This
taught me a lot about working as a team and with a huge range of different
and sometimes challenging colleagues. The strong focus on group work
at university, particularly for me being a part-time mature student with a
full-time job and doesn't live in Plymouth has been a difficult challenge
to meet.
- Employability - I feel that my mix of 2 years as an IT
Trainee at a respected organisation, 3 years working in the IT industry
and wide variety of previous jobs and life experience put me in a strong
position in terms of employability. My role as lead developer of a
Business Intelligence project and degree in Information and Computer
Security give me two unique and in-demand specialisms which contribute
further to my employability.
Weaknesses: -
- Procrastination - This is a habit that I have built up recently,
and I am aware that it is something that needs to be dealt with in order
for me to meet deadlines and reduce stress.
- Mathematics - This is one of the key skills required for
programming in Computing in general and it is one that I have struggled with
since school. Since starting my degree course however, I have begun
to grow in confidence with the key concepts of mathematics and am enjoying
the challenge and learning process.
- Time-management - Although I identified this as a strength, I
feel that I can (and need to) do better at it.
Opportunities: -
- Certified Ethical Hacker certificate - This has been a
personal goal since I first heard about it and at the end of my first year
of university it was identified by the module leader that there was an
opportunity to undertake this course.
- Employer and manager willing to support ongoing learning – my
employer is willing to fund my degree course which is critical to my
ongoing education as I would not be able to afford it privately. My team leader is supportive of my
studies and allows me to work flexibly.
Threats: -
- Pressure from work - some of my internal customers have
time–critical dependencies on the systems that I support. This means that
if I am away from the office whilst studying I need to make sure that I am
available as much as possible.
- Stress - Constantly trying to balance my full-time job and
part-time degree course, as well as hobbies sometimes leads to feelings of
stress and anxiety.
Future Goals
- Successfully develop an iPad app
- Become a certified ethical hacker
- Finish my Computer and Information Security course with a 1st
class honours degree.
- Start a computer security consultancy, analysis and
(penetration) testing company.
- Maintain a healthy work-life balance, and keep active
physically in order to counterbalance the time spent working at a desk.
- Reduce my stress and anxiety levels
Development Requirements
One of the most important goals for me to achieve is
reducing my stress and anxiety and creating a healthy work–life balance.
Achieving this goal will allow me to focus on the other goals in a healthy way.
One of the first things that I intend to do in the New Year is look at try to
tackle my procrastination and improve my prioritisation skills.
An area of skills that I am missing out on in order to start a business are business and management skills. This is something that I have not studied academically, and this will need to be addressed at the right time; however, this does not need to happen immediately as it will conflict with my current studies. I am considering an evening course during the summer holidays.
I feel that writing this reflective document has been a very worthwhile exercise, as it has helped me to develop a plan as an IT Professional in terms of what my goals actually are and how to achieve them, and allowed me to spot areas of weakness such as my lack of business skills and procrastination habits.
I think that this process will be something I repeat each year at work as well as the SFIA assessment, to help me mark progress and re-evaluate goals.
SFIA Framework Evaluation
Autonomy
Level 5
As the lead (and for a time, only) developer on a
Business Intelligence project, I was the only person responsible and
accountable for meeting project deadlines and milestones, as well as being
fully accountable for project and technical objectives to the user
stakeholders. I also was responsible for two IT Trainees, and a
contractor in terms of delegating them tasks relating to the project, as well
as their performance monitoring.
Influence
Level 4
I provide guidance and best practice advice to my team
and to the colleagues who are involved in the Business Intelligence project.
I also influence key stakeholders about the direction to take the project
in and technical decisions, as well as making decisions relating to the
technical aspects of the system design and maintenance as well as tasking and
prioritising the workload.
Complexity
Level 2/3
Unfortunately, this is where I feel that I am lacking
in the SFIA framework as I am limited to solely working within the Microsoft
SQL Server Business Intelligence stack, with some interaction with Oracle
Line-of-Business systems. However, thanks to my degree studies I am able
to broaden my complexity by working with a variety of tools and languages in a
range of environments. I feel that within the next 18-24 months I will
need to move on from working in a B.I capacity in order to grow as an IT
Professional.
Business Skills
Level 4
I am solely responsible for selecting from Business
Intelligence methodologies and techniques, and communicating and explaining my
decisions to both technical colleagues and non-technical stakeholders alike; I
find that my experience in giving fortnightly presentations for two years as
well as working in a variety of customer-facing roles both within and without
the IT industry has a given me a range of communication skills that I choose
from appropriately, depending on my audience. I deal with a variety of
stakeholders in my weekly Business Intelligence meetings and am often able to
lead the meeting, facilitating collaboration between the stakeholders who are
often competing for resource on the project. I plan, schedule and monitor
both my own work as well as trainees and contractors, and through my degree am
able to maintain a skill level and an awareness of developments in the wider IT
field.
Technical Skills
Information Management - Level
4 - I am responsible for a B.I system that stores,
manages and controls key information within the organisation. I take
responsibility for identifying and mitigating risks associated with the data,
and understand the relationship between my system, stakeholders, the executive,
downstream systems and the organisation as a whole.
Information Security - Level
1 - I have completed one module on this topic
and scored highly in the final test, and feel that I can work under general
direction in this area, learning and applying knowledge as appropriate.
Technical Specialism - Level 5 - I
have an in-depth knowledge of the Microsoft SQL Server Business Intelligence
stack, and provide expert advice within the organisation. I have been
responsible for tasking specialist consultants.
Database Administration (& Design) - Level
3 - I use SQL Server Management Studio every day
to design, develop, maintain, and use databases.
Software Development - Level
2 - During my degree and IT Trainee scheme, I have
designed, developed, maintained and documented simple applications using C# and
JavaScript, two of which were released on a production platform to commercial
customers.
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