Overcoming a Crisis of Confidence in the Workplace
If someone told me two years ago that I would now being working in Data and AI, it would have seemed so unlikely I might have laughed. After graduating university with a degree in International Business I began my professional career as part of a grad intake with a global consulting company. The amazing thing about Grad Schemes, and consulting more broadly, is that they are not catered to one type of person. If I think back to my own start group, where I was one of 42, I was the single American, one of 18 women, and one of 15 people with a business degree. But surrounding me were my new colleagues who spanned 21 to 32 years of age with degrees ranging from Art History to Communications to Maths and Economics and it made me realise that while we may all come from different backgrounds, we were all being given the same opportunity to shape our careers.
As my professional career began and I started to explore what I was passionate about, I found that it was not a specific industry that interested me but rather the positions which allowed me to more closely interact with my colleagues and our clients. The challenge, however, was identifying what role these interests most closely aligned to. After quite a few conversations with my career counsellor and mentor, it became clear that this role was one focused on project management and client relations. Two years after my work as a project manager began, I reflected on my time and realised that I was not challenging myself to be better and develop more successful PM skills, I was instead just staying where I was comfortable.
My hope was that by changing roles and working with a smaller team of people I would be able to take on more responsibility, challenge myself, and learn from colleagues who had far more experience than I did. Fortunately, I found this at Altius and will forever be grateful.
While I look back on my time to date with Altius as very positive, it did present a massive challenge, working in Data and AI when I myself do not have any background in this subject. When I first heard from Altius on LinkedIn I was sure it was a mistake because looking at the profiles of existing employees I was met with the single most intelligent and technical people that I had come across and couldn’t see where I would fit into that.
Two years later I have learned a very valuable lesson, to never sideline your own aspirations or give up opportunities because you believe they may be out of your grasp. My first project was in the Rail industry and I recall feeling such a crisis of confidence because not only was I the youngest member of my team and the only woman, but I also lacked the more technical schooling that my coworkers had. When we began the project, we all worked remotely so I was less concerned about my age and gender as showing that I knew what I was talking about. I read everything I could get my hands on; industry assessments, Microsoft solution documents and old project statements of work. At the same time, I also took Project Management training courses and scheduled meetings with the other project managers in my company to learn from their experiences.
One day maybe 6 months into my new role I remember being in a meeting and feeling like a switch had just flicked. I realised that slowly but surely as I got more projects under my belt, I had started to develop a confidence in myself and my abilities. I developed a growth mindset and learned how to adapt my ways of working to make the most of my own skillset. I realised that a project could still be a success even if I did not understand the most complex aspects of the solution. I started to ask for help when I needed it and some very patient coworkers took their own time to teach me.
I still cannot write code and I don’t understand all of the nuances of Data Science, but I do know who to reach out to when there is a gap in my own knowledge. I have come to understand that I am not expected to know everything, no one does, it is just about trusting in yourself to find the best solution for the challenge. That said, I feel very empowered with the amount that I have learned and continue to learn since joining Altius.
While I initially approached my professional career with the belief that it was not a specific industry or type of work that I was interested in but rather a role, I have been proven wrong. Through my time working in Data and AI I have been able to contribute to and then lead projects which shape my view of how data can change the world. What to most people may look like just a string of numbers, to others can be a way to predict railways accidents, retain customers or maximise donations to a charity. There is so much that we can do with the data all around us and I feel fortunate to have stumbled upon working in technology.
I would encourage people to look outside of your comfort zone and to think beyond your degree because really positive things can happen with hard work, a bit of tenacity and resilience, and patient people supporting you. While that crisis of confidence still comes back every once in a while, so does the excitement over getting to challenge myself and learn new things. If you had told me two years ago that as a project manager with a business degree, I would now be working in technology I would never have believed it. Today I can look back with pride on how I got here and look forward to whatever the next two years may bring.
