When newly graduated Rotana Pal travelled to London back in 2012, on an overseas experience from New Zealand, she planned to return home after having done the expected touristy things. However, a chance interview with Wyoming led to an amazing 7-year career with the digital consultancy, an experience which has completely changed her future aspirations.
Having now been with fellow Belfast based agency Sugar Rush for almost two years, Rotana reflected on how her time with Wyoming began, and what made it so special and life changing.
Rotana said:
“Shortly after arriving in the UK, I came to visit friends in Edinburgh and applied for a range of jobs to simply feed my travelling habit. The interview with Wyoming came a bit out of the blue, but after a lengthy and very enjoyable chat, I knew they were a really good fit. Having also met my now husband, I decided to lay down some roots and start my career as a Junior Accounts Executive.”
Having majored in Marketing and Management, Rotana had set her sights on doing more traditional marketing at university, but her eyes were soon opened to other opportunities once in the door at Wyoming.
Rotana added:
“Wyoming was a relatively small company when I joined, but already had an international reach, which led to real variety of work. No two projects were the same and no two days were the same. Despite being only a junior, I got the chance to do a bit of everything, which is what grew me both professionally and personally.
“I somehow thought at university that working in digital technology would be less creative and bound by regulations, but it’s absolutely not the case and turned out to be great.”
Career progression
Gaining such a breadth of experience, promotion was a natural progression for Rotana, who first became an Account Manager before making it to Project Manager, thanks in no small part to the support network created by Wyoming.
Rotana continued:
“As Wyoming grew swiftly with new services and technologies, I had to develop my skills and capabilities and Wyoming was very supportive and encouraging. I learned a lot. The team was also full of fun, a great bunch of people.
“There was never a ‘NO’ if I wanted to branch out into something else or get involved in another project, it was very much ‘let’s do it’. You are very lucky to get employers that encourage that. They also sponsored my visa and supported my master’s certification, which was awesome of them.”
Lockdown brought changes for everyone, and for Rotana, a move to Belfast resulted to be nearer her new husband’s family. Initially working remotely, a bittersweet decision soon followed when the chance came to work locally with Sugar Rush, but Rotana will always be grateful to the part Wyoming played in shaping her career and life choices.
Rotana said:
“My learnings and opportunities at Wyoming were endless. Liaising with clients, interpreting briefs and bringing them to fruition is what built my professional self-confidence and took me from being very timid, to confident and competent when dealing with clients on contracts sometimes worth more than £1 million. Working with one of the bigger clients led to regular, weeklong trips to the US over a two-year period – experience you couldn’t get anywhere else.
“As well as managing projects, I also got the chance to manage some juniors, including Chloe Carson. It was so nice and rewarding to be able to guide and mentor the next generation and see them grow.
“Sugar Rush are growing in a similar way to when I joined Wyoming, so I hope to use my experience and learnings to help them achieve their ambition. I also plan to continue my education by undergoing software developer training, something that first interested me at Wyoming.
“One day, I hope to return home to New Zealand to continue my career further and in doing so will be forever grateful for that chance interview back in 2013.”
About
Wyoming is a digital transformation consultancy created and based in Edinburgh, delivering Customer Experience/User Experience research and design, advanced digital tools, data engineering and application engineering to leading organisations across the Life Science and Healthcare industries, helping them achieve better business outcomes.
Sugar Rush is an award-winning digital agency empowering digital transformation by delivering mobile Apps, custom software, and Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality immersive experiences.
For more information, contact us at info@wyoming-interactive.com.
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