How did you get to your current job position?

After graduating from QUT with a Bachelor of Information Technology (Information Systems), I kicked off the job search and found a job listing for Ashurst's IT Graduate Program. A few weeks and an interview later, I began working at Ashurst as an IT intern.

The internship was an excellent experience, providing firsthand practical experience working as a Business Analyst. Throughout the 4 weeks, I was exposed to several areas of IT, providing amazing insight into potential areas of interest moving forward.

Ultimately, I was successful in securing a position in the graduate program as a result of the internship. I then began a series of rotations as the inaugural IT Graduate through the program. Thus far, I have completed 12-week rotations in Service Transition, Cyber Security, and IT Architecture. I am currently in my final rotation in Business Architecture.

Overall, the program has been an amazing experience thus far, and I hope to settle into Business Architecture later this year.

How did you choose your specialization?

As I mentioned above, I am still undertaking the IT Graduate Program. However, I am confident in my decision to specialize in Business Architecture after settlement. This is due to the vast exposure and firsthand experience I gained while working across IT throughout my rotations.

What was your interview process like? 

The interview process was quite straightforward and streamlined. In my case, I progressed from psychometric testing to an in-person interview in around two weeks. This was an excellent turnaround and was a notable reason I selected Ashurst. The process was transparent, well communicated, and felt genuine throughout.

What are your areas of responsibility as an IT Graduate?

My responsibilities varied significantly between my rotations. For instance, within Service Transition I worked independently to uphold the Service Transition and Knowledge Management BAU (business as usual) activities whilst undertaking significant process redesign work to mature the overall process and documentation.

Within my rotation in Cyber Security, I shifted my focus to vulnerability management, where I leveraged my business process improvement background to formally define the BAU and ad hoc vulnerability remediation processes. I undertook this in parallel with BAU Cyber Security tasks, including threat intelligence and phishing investigations.

As an IT graduate, you will be assigned a diverse range of work that is dependent on your skillset and the team that you are rotating through. At a high level, you will likely be assigned a mixture of:

• Project Work. Working within a project team to deliver a solution.
• BAU (business as usual) work. Standard repetitive tasks/work that your team oversees.
• Process Improvement work. Work to improve the internal workflows within/between the team or adjacent teams.

Can you describe a typical workday?

Every day is different. In my calendar, you'll typically find:

• Bi-weekly project/team stand-ups.
• Various recurring meetings (CAB, IT All Hands, etc)
• Weekly and fortnightly catchups with colleagues and managers.
• Project meetings.
• One-off meetings to elicit requirements/approval/information.
• Ad-hoc meetings with team members to collaborate on work.

In conjunction with the calendar items above, I will be working on whatever deliverable takes priority throughout the day.

As most of my work partially or fully revolves around stakeholders located in London or Glasgow, I tend to have most of my meetings in the afternoon and evening. I am happy with that arrangement, as it allows me to start later in the morning.

What are the career prospects of your job?

I believe that Ashurst's graduate program has given me invaluable insights into several IT specializations that I might consider pursuing in the future. A common phrase that I have heard over the past year is a T-shaped person. It describes someone who has a vast range of knowledge across areas (forming the top of the 'T') and a specialization (forming the bottom). I believe that I have taken great strides in forming a cross-disciplinary foundation of knowledge, allowing me to freely choose a specialization moving forward.

As I mentioned previously, I am currently aiming to settle as a Business Architect. However, I would also feel comfortable pursuing Business Analyst, Security Analyst, or Solution Architect roles in the future.

What do you love the most about your job? 

The trust. Since joining Ashurst, I have been able to work in a self-managed manner where I feel respected as an equal voice and contributor. When I was initially applying for graduate programs, I expected to be provided with menial work with significant oversight and micromanagement. Ashurst has completely defied these expectations, and I love working here as a result.

Which three pieces of advice would you give to a current university student? 

If you are a current university student who is reading this article, I think you are already on the right track. It shows that you are:

• Proactively looking for a job before you graduate. Or looking for practical experience while studying.
• Building an understanding of the industry/job landscape.
• Researching the company and role before you apply.

If you stumbled onto this page accidentally, I think the points above are a great place to start. Otherwise, the following advice is for those who are about to start working in the industry after graduating.

• Communication is key. It is integral that you communicate clearly, regularly, and tactfully. It fundamentally enables you to share insights, identify unexplored risks and opportunities, build your personal brand, manage expectations with stakeholders, and work collaboratively. All of the above are critical in the workplace, and even more so for those in their early careers.
• Don't assume you know nothing. Your fresh perspective can be quite valuable in testing long-standing assumptions and ways of doing things. If something doesn't make sense, make sure you ask the question.
• Don't assume you know everything. Aristotle famously wrote, "The more you know, the more you realize you don't know.". I believe it is extremely important to realistically self-evaluate, as it is essential to your development. Make sure you don't feel too dejected if/when you realize how little you know in practice, as it shows that you have already learned something new.