Gabika will tell you what the work of a Business Consultant entails
Gabika arrived to insurance consulting from her position as a tester. She’s glad to be moving forward and learning new things. That is why she accepted the offer to try the position of a consultant 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.
How long have you been with msg life Slovakia?
“I joined msg life Slovakia in February 2015.”
What position did you take up?
“I was hired as a Software Application Tester.”
What position do you currently hold?
“I’m currently working as a Business Consultant, but I’m still close to the test.”
How did you get into testing and counselling?
“I got to testing at msg life Slovakia and to counselling through the test, basically by accident. I was testing a topic whose consultant was leaving for another project and they asked me if I would 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 an honor 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, because the combination of counselling and the test is more interesting to me than the test itself.
I did not study IT, but international financial management in the form of a German-language course organized 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 expanded as I worked. There are always new things coming out, but I know that if I can’t handle something IT-wise, I can go to our admins, development, or another colleague and they can help me with that technical “problem”. 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 accepted by several companies and I decided to go with msg life because I got a good reference for this company from a friend. The interview was in a nice atmosphere, the emphasis 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 on the side of school, and that’s not quite adequate. Although I worked in the service sector, I came into contact with a much wider range of different 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 different. When I work from the office, I start at seven in the morning and finish before four in the afternoon, 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 development or test questions about a 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 now 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’m 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’m currently working on the topic of 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 entrusted with and I run a test between our ZVK Factory system and the ZV-system (Zulagenverwaltung).”
Who all are you communicating with to solve any problems?
“I interact with the project manager and test manager, with other consultants, with colleagues in manual and regression test, with development, with customers, and with colleagues in other departments in both our own and the parent company. It’s a wide range of people.”
What project are you working on right now?
“I’m working on a project called ZVK Factory. We are developing a program 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 calling, SQL Developer for database work, ARIS for concept modelling, but we also have a lot of concept documents in Word and Excel. I will 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, so does the ability to style the content concisely, clearly and concisely.”
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 and can implement my own ideas, and that I can manage my own working time. I also really like coffee and lunch with colleagues. I’m so tired of having to repeat a longer test multiple times or preparing the test automation documentation.”
Who are your colleagues?
“Nice, helpful, funny and professional.”
What qualities should your new colleague have to fit in?
“He/she should be a team player, he/she should like to learn new things, he/she should possess logical thinking and a sense of humor. Conscientiousness and precision are welcome in any field, and proficiency in German or English is a matter of course with us.”
Three words 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 a Business Consultant? See our job vacancies:
