Alice Donatantonio

"The My Skills My Life quiz presented me with the following skills: Coach, Coordinator, DeveloperAlthough I wouldn’t necessarily associate myself with these terms (developer sounds too technical!), once I delved deeper into the personality traits behind them, I can really see how closely I attribute to them.I can agree that I have listened and understood my friends and peers in their career ambitions, and have given them the support and advice they’ve required. I have coordinated my own projects, provided great customer service and love to learn more about whatever it is I am involved in. I am a creative problem solver, who always considers the requirements and budgets surrounding the project. I’m very inquisitive - I like to ask lots of questions (no question is a stupid question!) and always listen intently to the answer. This quiz will definitely help when writing a CV!"

"Currently, I am on my first rotation at Thames Water and I sit within the service desk team. A lot of what I do involves keeping the business running; from ensuring we have the right licences for everyone to do their work, to helping the business become future-proof by moving the company towards cloud-based solutions. Another large part of my role is to look for cost savings, whilst ensuring everyone can still work to their full potential. I really enjoy working with the different stakeholders in the business and streamlining IT processes to make it easier for our employees to get back to what they do best. As I am on a graduate scheme, I will be completing 3 placement over 2 years in the Thames Digital department. I'll be sure to update you on my next roles!"

"At A Level I undertook Chemistry, Maths and Textiles. I decided that pure Maths or Chemistry would be too challenging for me and Textiles I saw more as a hobby. I decided to go to university and study Forensic Science as it would utilise the skills and knowledge I built up in chemistry (and textiles, believe it or not!) but applied them to more real-life scenarios. I loved studying forensics! I'm very much a visual learner, so being able to DO stuff made learning so much more fun and understandable for me. Once I completed my degree, I went to work in the public sector for a large science and technology laboratory. Here, I spent much of my time researching new DNA recovery techniques, a role I certainly felt challenged me, however, I had many knowledgeable colleagues to support me. Whilst working in the laboratory I found myself becoming more and more interested in the computing techniques used to analyse the lab results. As such, I decided to leave the company to pursue a masters degree in Business Analytics and Management Science (BAMS).The BAMS degree was a really great mix of hard and soft skills. In the morning I was learning how to be a project manager, how to negotiate, how to consult etc. and in the afternoon I was coding using python, SAS, AnyLogic etc. I started the degree with no prior coding knowledge other than basic free courses I found online, but I actually ended up using python code in my final project!After multiple applications to various graduate schemes, I found myself with Thames Water within its digital team. I think a graduate scheme is a great way to learn about different areas of a business so I am really grateful and proud to be on one! My first rotation is within the Digital Service Desk Team where I work in End User Computing (EUC). The work I undertake here involves analysing data and working with multiple people to reduce costs related to technology in the business, whilst optimising our performance as a business and driving the digital changes within the company to reach our goals. Our day-to-day work (BAU) is to ensure our employees are able to work and any IT problems they have can be dealt with quickly. Like I said, this is my first rotation; the Digital graduate scheme at Thames is made up of 3 rotations over 2 years and we are given the opportunity to choose our next two roles from anywhere in the Digital department which is great. Though I am new to the company, I can't wait to see what other work I get involved with and progress I'll make! I'll be sure to keep you updated along the way :)"

"In my spare time I enjoy going to the gym and playing sports with others; football, golf and badminton. Though, I can't say I'm great at these, I love doing them just for fun - and if I'm not playing sport, I'm watching it!When I can, I love to travel to difference places and countries to explore them, eat the local food and learn about the different cultures. Upon my return, I get creative and make scrapbooks of all my travels! "

"Thames Water has been great in supporting its employees with working from home. I work a typical 9-5 shift which is great for me as it means I can fit the gym in before work. Typically I will start the day going through any new emails and respond to them accordingly. I will then check our service portal where all incidents and requests come in from employees, responding them using the technical knowledge I have or forwarding them on to the relevant teams who can help support the requests. We have two or three team calls a week where we keep one another up to date with any changes, performance as well as notifying the service desk team of any possible problems we foresee coming to them. Currently I am project managing a cloud migration piece of work, so will be organising calls with our service contractors to ensure everything is running smoothly and keeping senior leaders updated on the project. As I've mentioned, our team looks to cost save and simplify processes in the business where possible. As such, I spend time analysing figures and looking at our current IT processes to see where changes can be made and the associated time/cost savings. "

"AS-Level in BusinessA-Levels in Maths, Chemistry and TextilesBSc Forensic ScienceMSc Business Analytics and Management Science"