A day in the life: A digital lead
Sonia Khella
Sonia is the Digital Lead at Voxi by Vodafone, she talks to The Lowdown about her experiences working as a woman in tech.
I got into this industry …
After one conversation and being in the right place and the right time.
After graduating from university, I had little idea on how to break into the graduate job market. Most of my family hadn't gone to university or into the sort of roles I was thinking of, and my background didn't really equip me with any contacts or networks to gain an advantage. So I did what many graduates do and secured an internship with the retailer New Look. During those 6 months I happened to sit opposite a contractor, Jack, from Deloitte who was looking at how New Look could kick start their digital transformation. At the time I knew nothing about digital but through various conversations with the ‘very senior guy’ in front of me I became quite interested.
As I was concluding my internship, I felt a little lost and didn’t really know where to go for my next role. That’s when Jack asked me if I wanted to join the digital team at New Look in a full-time role. 8 years later I’m still in the industry and he is still my mentor.
A typical day in my job …
While no day is the same, I start by checking in with the team on how they are progressing with our core projects. This is across development, design and analytics. I’ll then look at how the business has performed over the last day from a trading perspective so that I can check we are on track. The rest of the day is split between various stakeholder meetings where we are collaborating and troubleshooting. This is followed by more in-depth sessions such as with the design and analytics team, where I look in more depth how their contributions are progressing and where we need to go.
The best thing about my job …
Is the feeling you get when you see a strategy that starts on paper come to life as a real product that is used by millions of customers.
The most challenging thing about my job …
Is the balancing act of prioritisation. Digital are the bottleneck for demand in any technology business. Everybody has an ask or an opinion, so you have to prioritise and keep the product focused on its goals and intentions.
The biggest obstacle I’ve had to tackle is…
Making sure that I’m heard. Although digital is one of the most diverse industries that you can work in, it is still skewed towards being male dominated especially in development. It is important to never lose your voice in this and be comfortable speaking up with your points of view even if you often feel you are not naturally ‘technical’ compared to your counterparts.
What I do to switch off…
Exercise, socialising with like minded friends and travelling.
My number one tip to get into this role …
Understand what industries you are most interested in. You will be working with products and technologies for a focused and long amount of time. Make sure you have a real interest about the problem you are solving. If you do this preparation upfront you will have a head start. Also network with people in the industry. Digital moves fast and the demand for roles is never stable. Know the right people!
The best decision I’ve taken in my career…
Take on opportunities that scared me and that made me feel uneasy. Those opportunities helped me grow.
The best career advice I’ve received is…
Treat your career like a marathon and not a sprint. The three qualities I think you need for this career are …
Empathy: you are producing products for real people. You need to understand them and empathise with their needs.
Persistence: you are working on a product for a long time. You may get obstacles thrown at you/ things might not go as you expect, keep going and you will get there.
Ability to listen: the way you interact with your team will make or break your product. They have a varied and rich skillset, so ensure you work as a team and take on feedback. In this industry you can’t build anything without your cross functional team!