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Daniel: My journey from branch to technology
When you push for high performance, you thrive at Nationwide.
We spoke to Daniel who challenged himself to excel in a new career. He shares his journey in moving from a successful branch career, to a new role in technology.
I'm Daniel and I started out in our branch network. My roles ranged from a Customer Representative to a Personal Banking Manager. This provided me with many invaluable communication skills that helped get me to where I am, and I still utilise today. I also worked as an Assistant Manager in Complaints and have been a member of the Remediation team. I later joined the Technology Development Programme (TDP) which was a big career change.
Why did you change careers?
I worked incredibly hard to get on the Technology Development Programme. and it's set me on a journey that would change my career for the better. I sought out opportunities to explore tech, starting with another internal programme called GetIntoTech. After this, I was eager to learn more and see how I could turn an interest into a career. I felt I missed the chance to learn more about technology at school.
So I looked for opportunities to learn on the job and through my hard work and dedication I've proved that you do not need to be a tech whizz to start a tech career.
What's been an interesting project?
I have been extremely fortunate to work within the Infrastructure Engineering team. We've been creating an automated virtual machine, this is an exciting area as it allows us to be pioneers within our Infrastructure community to build virtual machines automatically rather than the current manual process. We have succeeded in our journey so far providing an 'MVP' (Minimal viable product) that we can now look at rolling out into a usable product that can be consumed by our colleagues. This will provide our colleagues with virtual machines they need, in a quicker timeframe that also removes any human interaction or error.
What do you enjoy about Infrastructure Engineering?
What I love most about Infrastructure Engineering is that you're building the foundations for everything that is consumed by the business, and therefore serving our customers. You become a highly skilled individual as you may be placed into one team, but you will work with so many others. You'll gain knowledge in networks, security and cloud. The area is constantly developing and growing, and you'll find opportunities to move around teams internally. The variety of skills you gain is probably the best part about Infrastructure Engineering. You learn to interact with Application Programming Interfaces (APIs), scripting languages and Graphical User Interfaces (GUIs), it’s a very well-rounded role.
What would you say to a potential career changer?
We offer incredible programmes if you're looking for that career change into tech. I've gained certification in coding languages, and now have the opportunity to learn and become certified in more areas. The big winner is the on-the-job training you get alongside some seriously helpful and intelligent subject matter experts. I have learnt so much about the world of IT infrastructure within just a year on the programme. I have also had the opportunity to teach a one-day coding course and present to others.
It's not just about the tech skills you pick up but the network and business skills. This is an opportunity not to miss if you have the drive and commitment for a career change in technology.