Valerie Le Clerc

Job:

Senior Project Manager

Company:

GlobalLogic UK BG

My role is to lead the delivery of IT projects from initiation through to closure, mostly for the Financial industry. I sometimes work with teams located across the world and made up of variety of role such as Architect, Developers, Testers, Business Analysts and users. I empower the team members to deliver the right thing at the right time and support them when they require help. I also ensure that stakeholders are well informed of progress, risks which includes reports to the leadership team.

I am...

Brave

Resilient

Curious

The skills I use most in my job...

Stakeholder Management, it's a key part of the job as it ensures that everyone is onboard and understand their role and responsibilities

Effective Communication, it's important to adapt communications to the different audience so that the message is understood/actioned

Resilence, it's about keep going when it's difficult, finding new ways of doing things or solution when we need to go over hurdles

Leadership, being trusted and trusting the team, being credible, reliable, building a strong team and appreciating each of the team members

Organisation, it allows team members to spend their time doing their job and focusing of resolving problems

The most interesting thing I've worked on in my career so far...

I've had some amazing projects such as the design of the wing of a new plane to merging two Building Societies or building a new software in the a Cloud environment. What is the most interesting thing for me is to get teams to work well together, develop their skills and learn new things on the way. It's about the journey as much as the product. I find human interaction, creativity and innovation fascinating so working with a diverse set of people with a wide range of skills float my boat!

What inspired me into digital and tech...

I've fallen into it rather than decided it was where I wanted to go. Digital and Tech is magic for me, I don't understand how it can happen, though I have a great imagination and so I can picture what it looks like. Also many colleagues use metaphor to explain things (such as building a house!) I've got more a mind that understand mechanics than lines of codes.

My educational background is...

University was not for me because I learn and develop better by doing and learning along the way. I've never had a career plan and always said I didn't like computers!! It has always been about going with the flow and I have been lucky to make some very good choices when it came to my career. I've been able to work in many different industries and learn new things and skills. By taking my personal development in my own hands, I choose what I want to develop in and make it happen. There is so much online that everything is possible.

What advice I'd give to girls thinking about a career in digital and tech...

Go for it! You will find your niche, develop your skills, meet some great minds and innovate. It's a world which is changing all the time and very fast so there is a lot of learning and opportunities. We don't have to be masterminds or exceptional ... we just need to be ourselves, authentic and do our best, that's when we are exceptional!