Lucy Johnson | Delivery Lead | 6point6

 

I first started thinking about tech in 2014 when I was looking to change careers from working in hotel management. I was excited by the endless possibilities that a career in tech could offer, but it also meant that I could fulfil a lifelong aspiration – to make a difference. The only thing getting in the way was that I wasn’t sure how to get into the sector with an arts degree.

Being a modern languages graduate and working in hotel management seems like a world away from where I am today and my role working with mission-critical services and cyber security projects. But learning languages, working in hotel management, and travelling around the world (including living in five different countries) gave me a solid and practical grounding for what I currently do. My experience honed my problem-solving, stakeholder engagement and critical thinking skills as well as enhanced my communication style and approach.

Despite not having a technical background, FDM Group gave me a chance, hiring me as a PMO IT Consultant. I’d always been interested in tech but didn’t think my modern languages degree or career in hotel management would allow me to pursue one. Luckily this company was a frontrunner leading the way in getting women into tech – all I needed was the right organisation to see my potential and believe in what I could do with the right guidance and mentorship.

I look back at my tech journey since 2014 with resolute determination that I made the right move. My career has led me to working on high-profile projects covering both the public and private sectors including the Home Office, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Defence, BAE Systems and big financial services firms. I was really excited by my first project with FDM as a cyber security project management consultant working for the Home Office as I felt I was doing important work, making an impact to help the country be more secure. I found cyber security a fascinating sector to work in, particularly its geopolitical component.

Joining 6point6 almost four years ago, my current work and focus as a Delivery Lead is managing complex, highly sensitive and large-scale digital transformation programmes. There is so much variety to my role and no two projects or programmes are the same – from working with large teams leading on revolutionary data and simulation projects within a complex manufacturing programme to cyber security capability transformation programmes. I get great satisfaction in being part of large and complex projects, project managing the successful delivery of mission-critical programmes spanning public sector and critical national infrastructure – projects that not only unlock millions in cost savings but also enable thousands of civil servants providing frontline services.