Name: Lauren Kerr
Role: Team Lead, Delivery Assurance, Workday Business Unit of Kainos.
Education: I studied Business Information Technology at Queens University Belfast, graduating with a 2:1 BSc (hons).
Biography:
I worked for Northgate Managed Services during my placement year as a technical specialist. My main focus was in unix and pl/sql scripting. I was offered a full time position with Northgate after graduating and stayed within the company for 10 months. I moved on to NYSE technologies where I worked as a Quality Assurance analyst testing feedhandlers for major investment banks.
Over my 4 years at NYSE I progressed into senior and lead roles within Quality Assurance. After the acquisition of NYSE I moved to Citi as an AVP QA analyst for 1 year. I wanted to move my career forward by gaining more customer focused experience so when a role within professional services (working with an in-house test tool) within Kainos came up I jumped at the opportunity.
What does your typical day look like?
Kainos offers great flexibility so I can be starting in the office any time from 8am to 10am, also working from home around 2-3 days per week. I carry out a range of tasks from planning out my team’s workload, conversing with clients whether that be over email, conference call or onsite - usually to North America. I take on client projects as well as helping others within the team, acting as an escalation point. I am also heavily involved in recruitment, taking telephone and face to face interviews in Belfast and our Gdansk office.
What are you currently working on?
Outside my management responsibilities I’m writing and implementing financial regression tests for a range of customers.
What inspired you to join this company in particular?
A previous colleague of mine always had great things to say about his past working experience within Kainos. When I was offered the position, his advice was “Take it, you won’t regret it”, and he was right.
Did you always want to work in this industry (tech)?
No! I was a keen musician throughout school so I always thought I would pursue a career in music. I explored a lot of music degree options but decided that the route of business and IT would provide me with a wider range of job opportunities after university.
What’s your favourite part about your work?
The sheer range of tasks each day and working with great, inspiring colleagues.
What would you say to other people considering a job in this industry (tech)?
I would advise to just go for it. There is such a wide range of different tech jobs. I find when people talk about tech they focus on the development aspect, but there are a wide range of roles including customer facing, project management, product design etc.
Who inspired you to work in this field?
A musical friend of mine went down the route of studying Business Information Technology at Queens and advised me to do the same so that I had plenty of options after university.
What do you consider to be the most important tech innovation or development in recent years?
The cloud – accessing real time software updates, streaming television, music – it’s done so much for us.
What tech gadget could you not live without?
My mobile phone!
