Meet our Academy Consultants – James Forcer

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Learn how James applies the knowledge he gained during Ten10 Tech Academy training every day in the busy world of Public Sector service desk work

The Ten10 Academy offers a range of training for anyone from any background. James Forcer joined us in 2023 and now he’s making the most of his new career in tech, working for a client in the Public Sector! We sat down with James to learn about his journey through the Academy and how he’s still learning different aspects of technology every day.

How do you feel you’ve transitioned from the Ten10 Academy to your client work?

Overall, I feel like I’ve done really well. I think a lot of the attitudes and behaviours that the training team encouraged during the Academy training are what clients really like to see, so being proactive, just getting stuck in, not being afraid to make mistakes and just generally giving it your best shot I think is the best way to go.

Take us through your placement, where are you currently working?

So in terms of my placement, I work in a service desk role in the Public Sector. This is on the 24/7 team, so is really working all hours. In terms of what that specifically involves, the different shifts have very different responsibilities, but overall the same principles apply to each one, which is to provide a high-quality service to people across the agency.

What parts of the Ten10 Academy training have been most useful in your placement?

Honestly, I would say the Business Analysis side of things. So even though my role isn’t specifically Business Analysis, I think everyone kind of has to wear that hat sometimes, and take on those responsibilities of meeting with stakeholders, working out what they would like to see, trying to work out the best way of delivering it and working out the best way of keeping everyone satisfied.

What is a normal working day or week for you?

I don’t think I have such a thing as a normal day, because with it being a 24/7 role, sometimes my working day can start at 9 p.m! But overall I would say that the main responsibilities involve a handover from the previous shift, such as any major incidents that are still outstanding are passed over to us. They all involve answering phone calls or emails from users across the agency who are struggling with various things and need our support, we always have to be there to help them. That’s where the 24/7 role comes into it, as you can contact us at any hour of the day or night and we will help you. I definitely didn’t envision myself working night shifts when I first started working, but I’m really enjoying it. I enjoy the fact that no two days are the same and everything widely varies.

Have your roles and responsibilities changed during your time on placement?

They can change quite quickly! We work in a very fast-paced environment, and in terms of the fixes that we have to do for the services we work on, and just generally the expectations of us can change quite widely. One principle of service management is continuous improvement, and I think it’s really important that we’re always changing things and trying to do things that little bit better, just to deliver really high-quality service.

How has your client supported your development?

There was lots of support available. Due to the nature of it being a public sector client, some of the services weren’t made that public, so we were given support from various highly qualified people, training on how to run these services and what the common fixes are. As well as that, as soon as I moved on to this shift rota, as I said the jobs vary on each shift quite widely, so we were all paired with a more experienced colleague who serves as our team leader on these shifts and they’ve really supported us through the various jobs. They are great at really encouraging us to take that bit of initiative and go the extra mile for users.

What support have you received from Ten10 during your placement?

Ten10 has really excellent support for its junior consultants. There’s a specific Wellbeing team, and they support you with anything you need, such as relocation for a job which I did, and just making sure you’re okay on the client site. We often get a catch-up message to make sure you’re all right and we can book one-to-ones with them if necessary. As well as that, and I think this is a personal favourite for me, is that they organise socials in various client cities! These are really good because they offer an informal opportunity to catch up with colleagues and get to know the people in the area. If you have just relocated too, it really does help you settle in.

What would you say to anyone considering joining the Ten10 Academy?

Everyone probably says this, but I would tell them just to go for it! Really just get stuck in, give it your best shot and that’s how you’ll be a really big success within your future tech career.

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