The technology sector is growing 3 times faster than the rest of the UK economy so we want to give you an insight into the people and companies which make up this thriving industry through a series of case study interviews.
This week we meet Tony McAndrew, a Senior Technology Architect at Capgemini, a global leader in consulting, technology and outsourcing services
Hi Tony, how long have you been working as a Senior Technology Architect and what were you doing beforehand?
After graduating from Northumbria University with a degree in Computing for Industry, I started my 16 year IT career as a software engineer working for BT in Newcastle. I specialised in C, C++ and Java, designing, coding and testing enterprise systems. When offshoring took off I began working on contact centre technologies based on the Genesys voice platform. This allowed me to make a move into consulting and technology architecture. I moved to Accenture in 2006 working as a technology architect until 2014 when I came to work for Capgemini. You can find out more about my experience from my LinkedIn Profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/tonymcandrew
What made you choose a career at Capgemini?
I had worked alongside Capgemini on various projects while at Accenture. I admired the work that Capgemini do for the public sector in the UK and the great culture that is at the heart of the company. Having worked with clients in multiple sectors in the past spanning central government, policing, banking, telecoms and pharmaceuticals, I knew that working on public sector IT programmes can be a great motivator – they have the scope to benefit the whole population of the UK.
What did you want to be when you were growing up?
Working in an office was my idea of hell as I was growing up. I much preferred the thought of working in the outdoors, and my ideal job was a surveying and mapping scientist working for the Ordnance Survey.
What do you like most about working at Capgemini?
It may seem like a bit of a cliché but the people I work with are the best thing about Capgemini. The culture here is great, being based around a set of 6 core values: honesty; boldness; trust; freedom; team spirit; modesty and fun.
What’s your typical day like in Capgemini?
My day typically starts with stand up meetings for the projects I am working on, finding out the issues of the day and providing updates to our clients. Once that’s done it really depends on the work at hand or any problems that may arise. The great thing with my job is that there isn’t really a typical day. It might range from workshops with clients or key stakeholders to develop a design through to modelling the capacity of a system, sizing the servers needed to support tens of thousands of enterprise users, evaluating software for DevOps or application execution, working out test strategies and helping to resolve issues found in delivery. Quite often there is a reasonable dose of travelling added to the mix too.
What advice would you give to someone thinking of following in your footsteps?
A career as a technology architect is a great step for those with a solid grounding in technology who wish to take more ownership and responsibility within IT projects. They may come from a coding background, or have deep experience in other areas such as integration, service management, data modelling or infrastructure – but these are just examples. The right attitude makes a huge difference. A good architect will own the solution end to end, making sure issues are prevented and resolved when they occur.
Want to join Capgemini?
Keep an eye on our current openings here – https://www.uk.capgemini.com/careers. Feel free to ask Tony McAndrew a question on Twitter @TonyMcAndrewUK including the #CapgeminiNE hashtag.
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