What does an IT Business Consultant do? Gabika will tell you
Gabika came to insurance consulting from her tester job. She likes to move forward and learn new things. That’s why she accepted the offer to try the IT Business Consultant job and to cover the project topic from a professional point of view. Since she was on the team for a short time, this opportunity was a challenge for her, but one for which she is grateful, as she enjoys the combination of mentoring and testing more. IT Business Consultant job offer is open also now. Read this interview and get inspired by Gabika!
In the article you will learn:
- How long have you been with msg life Slovakia?
- What job were you recruited for?
- What is your current job position?
- How did you get into testing and counselling?
- What attracted you to working at msg life Slovakia? Why did you choose us?
- How is working for us different from previous work experience?
- What does your normal working day look like?
- What is your job?
- Who do you communicate with to solve problems?
- What project are you working on right now?
- What apps do you use at work?
- What skills are important for your job?
- What do you like most about your job?
- What are your colleagues like?
- What qualities should your new colleague have to fit in?
- Three things that come to mind when you hear msg life Slovakia?
How long have you been with msg life Slovakia?
“I joined msg life Slovakia in February 2015.”
What job were you recruited for?
“I was hired as an IT Software Tester.”
What is your current job position?
“I have accepted a job offer as an IT Business Consultant, but I am still close to testing.”
How did you get into testing and counselling?
“I came to testing at msg life Slovakia and to counselling through testing, basically by accident. I was testing a topic whose consultant was leaving for another project and I was asked if I could cover the topic from a professional point of view. I was in the company for a short time and we only had consultants in Germany, so this offer was for me an honour and a challenge at the same time. I’ve always enjoyed pushing myself and learning new things, so I agreed. I have to say I’m glad I did it, because the combination of the counselling and testing is more interesting to me than testing itself.
I did not study IT, but international financial management in German language organised by the University of Economics in Bratislava in cooperation with Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg. I learned the basics of IT that I needed to know pretty quickly during the training and the ISTQB-certification.
As time went on, my IT skills at work have expanded. There are always new things popping up, but I know that if I don’t know how to deal with something in IT, I can contact our administrators, developers or another colleague and they will help me with that technical issue. I certainly can’t compare myself to someone who has studied IT, but what I know is enough for me to do my job fully, and the work of a consultant is not technically that demanding.”
What attracted you to working at msg life Slovakia? Why did you choose us?
“After I graduated, I didn’t have a very clear idea of what I wanted to do. I was recruited by several companies and I decided to go with msg life because I got a good reference from a friend about this company. The interview was in a good atmosphere, the emphasis was on German and the financial compensation was also good.”
How is working for us different from previous work experience?
“As this is my first permanent job, I can only compare it to part-time jobs I had during my studies, and that’s not quite adequate. Although I worked in the service sector, I came into contact with a much wider range of customers who were changing. It was interesting, dynamic and I was also much more in motion. The work at msg life is office based, behind a computer, the customer is in Germany, so we communicate mostly online. The financial and non-financial remuneration is of course incomparable and I really like the company culture and the human approach.”
What does your normal working day look like?
“Every day is different and teaches me something new. When I work from the office, I start at seven in the morning and finish before four in the afternoon, it’s because of the traffic but also to enjoy the day after work. I check my emails first thing in the morning, and my next activity is based on that. If a bug comes out of production, it is a top priority to resolve it. Otherwise, I’m mostly studying, analyzing and creating the specification. I often answer questions from development or testing about the concept. I have regular and irregular meetings and other test related tasks. Every day I look forward to having lunch or coffee with my colleagues. That’s about the only thing I miss during home office.”
What is your job?
“I would define the work of a business consultant as a link between development and customers. The main task is to create a professional concept. I am in charge of conducting concept and customer requirements analysis, performing various consultations and presentations when creating a specification or introducing new functionality. Part of my job is to support and advise our customers on production issues, bug analysis, creating test cases and supporting the onboarding of new colleagues.
I am currently working on the topic Simulationsberechnung. This is a functionality for simulating the evolution of production contracts so that predictions can be made for annuities. At the same time, I test and conceptualize various other topics that I am in charge of and I run a test between our ZVK Factory system and the ZV-system (Zulagenverwaltung).”
Who do you communicate with to solve problems?
“I interact with the project manager and test manager, other consultants, colleagues in manual and regression testing, development, customers, and with colleagues in other departments in both our own and the parent company. It’s really a wide range of people.”
What project are you working on right now?
“I am working on a project called ZVK Factory. We are developing a programme for insurance companies operating in the public sector in Germany.”
What apps do you use at work?
“I use classic MS Office and Teams, Unify for calls, SQL Developer for database work, ARIS for concept modelling, but we also have a lot of concept documents in Word and Excel. I use PowerPoint along with Quick Slide to present each technical topic. On the project we manage tickets in JIRA, create test cases in Zephyr Scale and collect sql-selects in OneNote. We have our own ERP system to record attendance. I analyze the inputs and outputs of the test in one of the Notepad programs and compare them in, for example, BeyondCompare. I take notes in Sticky Notes, and Greenshot often makes my job easier.”
What skills are important for your job?
“German, analytical thinking, reading comprehension, effective communication, reliability and independence. As the consultant writes the concept, they need to write the content concisely, clearly and accurately.”
What do you like most about your job?
“What I like most is that I am always pushing myself knowledge-wise, that I have to find solutions to different interesting tasks, can implement my own ideas and manage my own working time. I also really like coffee and lunch time spent with my colleagues. What I don’t like is to repeat a longer test multiple times or prepare the test automation documentation.”
What are your colleagues like?
“They are nice, helpful, funny and professional.”
What qualities should your new colleague have to fit in?
“They should be a team player, like to learn new things, have logical thinking and a sense of humour. Conscientiousness and precision is welcome in every field and proficiency in German or English is a given with us.”
Three things that come to mind when you hear msg life Slovakia?
“Concept, software, family atmosphere.”
Are you interested in Gabika’s work? Do you have experience in software testing or would you like to work as an IT Business Consultant? See our job offers:
- Java vs C# – comparison of programming languages (2024)
- Interview questions for the prospective employee and the employer with answers
- Generations X, Y, Z and Baby boomers in the workplace: how to work with them?
- Why soft skills are important
- Programming is the future! Learn to code with programming courses online
- Workplace bullying: bossing, mobbing. How to fight them?
