Karolina Bednarek | Product Manager | PwC

 

I moved to the UK in 2006 with no English skills and only one year until the exam which would determine my secondary school. I consequently scored higher in STEM subjects, and this pattern continued throughout the rest of my education.

I graduated with a very generic Masters degree in Mathematics in 2020, at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. I wasn’t sure what exact “job title” I wanted to pursue so I applied for a range of jobs. Soon my job applications were canceled overnight, following a very unsettling ‘stay at home’ message from Boris. Luckily I’d secured a Technology Graduate Placement at PwC.

My graduate placement taught me some important lessons, e.g. I am definitely a technologist but I am definitely not a coder. It wasn’t long before I noticed my interests lay in the delivery aspects of the website I was building, rather than the code behind it.

After what felt like a very quick placement year of trying a little of a lot of things, grasping at every opportunity I could, surrounded by individuals and teams who put trust in me to take on more responsibility than I could’ve imagined at my level, I was honoured to win the Rising Star award for our department. I didn’t take this for granted; the award encouraged me to reflect on my journey and the feedback I had received, to focus on narrowing down my path in a big Technology world.

I quickly began to discover my strengths and interests, and became a Product Manager for our Technology products within Tech Central in PwC UK.

Product management sits at the heart of my passions – user experience, finding solutions to complex problems, to name a few. Since becoming a Product Manager I have managed three different products in the past two years. A large part of my job involves creating a product vision in alignment to the wider firm’s Purpose and Strategy and bringing my team and stakeholders on this journey. I manage the delivery of multiple products at different lifecycle phases and set clear, measurable and transparent objectives for my products which are used to prioritise the product backlog to deliver the most value to our customers using technology.

I am a strong believer of bringing your whole self to work. I am passionate about inclusivity, developing talent, and creating a fun and secure environment for my peers to work in. I have hosted many events within our Her Tech Talent and Colourbrave networks which have also won awards for the impact they bring. I also manage the Tech Degree Apprentice and Graduate Pathway programmes, and host a number of social events for our department which helped improve team morale, especially during the pandemic.

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