Stepping into the future: Reflections of a Women in Tech Scholar at LEVO

It only occurred to me as I hopped off the train at Wynyard and arrived at the entrance of the pier that I was about to step into the real world and workforce. I guess something I knew I was going to encounter during my first few weeks as an intern was the transition. Being a full time uni student and casual retails assistant and then having the opportunity to pursue my career interests in the professional environment. It honestly still feels surreal…to not only be granted such an opportunity but also change the preconceptions I had of the workforce.

For me, it was like a whole paradigm shift. From being surrounded by fellow peers my age to people in the workforce who were passionate, detail oriented, and highly analytical. These observations I had from working at LEVO thus far, shifted my mindset, igniting my desire to be just like them. I aspire to understand the requirements of clients in different industry contexts requiring different solutions and to also think outside the box. It was so interesting to see how one could be creating a B2B solution for an office supplies company like Officeworks, to designing a website for a florist company like Interflora. 

Coming into the organisation, I was interested in various things such as how a project goes about and how a client communicates requirements that are manifested into a digital solution. Although I knew that communication was essential and without question unavoidable in the workforce, seeing it all come together with developers, project managers and designers with all their different specialties for example was admirable. 

Also the fact they were so proficient in what they do and being able to translate their work to other people: 

The Director of Advisory recommending a client to install additional content tagging add ons e.g Geta.Optimizely.Tags or integrating Google Tag Manager to their solution. 

Their ability to break down how the add-on can build a taxonomy and provide relevant searches/filtering for their content to make it easier for the client to understand its benefits was very interesting. 

I was also surprised how tight knit the organisation was; it felt like a community rather than just professionals coming together to solve a problem. I had preconceptions of the workforce being more strictly work-oriented and for getting their work done as their main priority. However at LEVO, I observed their flexibility and the importance of work life balance. Seeing everyone at LEVO work together whilst also being able to have a laugh and get to know bits and pieces of everyone’s life outside of work was refreshing.

As it was definitely a brand new environment I hadn’t experienced, to my surprise everyone was so keen to help me get on board and ease in. I had the chance to meet a lot of employees in the organisation during my onboarding process including the Chief Operating Officer, project managers, frontend/backend developers, solution architects and UX designers to name a few. I also never knew what ‘client engagement directors’ were but getting to know everyone developed my understanding of what they do, how the business works, and was also given plenty of career advice.

As 2023’s recipient of the Women in Tech scholarship, the title itself is already daunting enough…it’s hard to believe how I was able to be given such an amazing opportunity. I had also questioned myself on my first days if I was good enough, had the right skills and didn’t want to sound dumb for asking silly questions. However, working at LEVO has flipped these preconceptions, making me understand that when you enjoy what you do in a supportive and inquisitive environment, it doesn’t feel like work at all…and there are no silly questions! Nonetheless I am extremely grateful for such an opportunity, and will continue to keep learning!