Victoria Jones

"I have a very logical/details orientated personality type, which fits with Quality Controller, is ideal for the organisation that is required to track and manage Projects/Programmes - there are many actions, risks, issues, dependencies and decisions that need to be carefully documented and maintained. Being an Explorer type allows me to gather the information I need to make good decisions, and Programme Managers make decisions every day to keep Projects running smoothly."

"I work as a Programme Manager which means that I oversee multiple Projects that are all related to one large goal. I keep track of spend and benefits and I assist Project Managers with any problems they are having. Ultimately I ensure that all projects deliver on time, budget and scope. The most exciting part has been the delivery of a very large Project that impacted over 5 million customers. There were numerous setbacks along the way, a lot of issues and delays, but ultimately that meant a lot of opportunity for problem solving and creative thinking. I got to be at the forefront of migrating all 5 million customers on to a new platform that would provide internet browsing parental controls and have the satisfaction that young children would no longer be exposed to explicit content while browsing the internet. To progress, I can take on bigger Programmes or I could have some Project/Programme Managers report into me as their line manager. Eventually I could look to be promoted to Portfolio level. The opportunity to travel depends on the Programme, but on one of my previous Programmes, I travelled to York regularly to visit the area where we were digging up the roads to lay fibre optic cable. "

"My biggest inspiration has been my mum, who has worked in IT and Technology for many years. She has always been the 'technical' one at home and I aspired to be just like her. I started at TalkTalk as a graduate Business Project Manager, earned my Prince2 qualification, then applied to move to the Technology division. I volunteered to take on larger and more complex Projects over a five year period, after which I was promoted to Programme Manager. My motivation was always to earn a reputation for being good at my job and to be seen as a person you could give a complex problem to. "

"I volunteer a lot of my spare time as an Advanced First Aider with St John Ambulance which means I go to a large number of local events and provide medical assistance to the public. I also organise my local village rose fete and help with fundraising events at the local rugby club."

"A typical day at work for me involves some sort of reporting and providing an update to senior stakeholder on a particular part of the Programme. I'll usually have some emails to respond to, queries to be answered about budget, timelines, scope etc. I may then have a conference call with the Design or Development team to hear any issues they have with the current code being produced for the Programme. The rest of the time I'm following up on actions from previous meetings to ensure that all Project Managers, Work Stream leads etc. are keeping up with their tasks. Mostly I enjoy the structure and the organisation of it, but also that I get to talk to many different people from all over the company, and learn how to influence them into assist with the Programme."

"Secondary education (GCSE/O-Levels) Post secondary education (College, A-levels, NVQ3 or equivalent) Undergraduate degree (BSc, BA, etc.) Computer Science Prince2 "