What was your last career change?
My last career change was on February 2, when I was assigned to a temporary position as Lead System Analyst for AI initiatives with the Collaboration team. Before this, I was a Senior System Analyst with the Collaboration team, and previously a Security Analyst with the Security, Identity and Access Management team for a fair portion of my years at the University of Ottawa.
What made it successful?
As this is still a new change, I think the jury’s still out.
From my experience of going from Access Management to Collaboration: I feel my experience in security helped me better analyze and make infrastructure-level decisions. Having been here for many years, my accumulated knowledge of the environment and of University IT, has allowed me to forge ahead with the new position and made my change from a Security Analyst to a Senior Analyst far more successful.
The opportunity to temporarily staff the position also allowed me to better understand the position get insight on if I wanted to do the role on a long-term basis.
What was the biggest challenge in adapting to your new role?
For my new role, I’m mostly trying to adapt in a Lead position and understanding the role requirements for the organization and for me personally. As this is a brand-new role, it is a challenge adapting the emerging needs of the community as they learn more about AI.
What tasks do you find AI most helpful for in your role?
AI allows me to simplify my job and automate certain tasks. Specifically building skeleton scripts for PowerShell (a task automation framework) when I already know the basics. It saves me the time from typing skeleton scripts, which takes more time than most think!
It also allows me to do a lot of research more efficiently. I have essentially stopped using search engines like Google and have replaced it with CoPilot for research purposes). I use AI daily. As someone who now leads in AI initiatives, regular use allows me to understand new terms and approaches.
What advice would you give to someone considering a career change?
Don’t hold yourself back. Sometimes, we get in a rut, and we have a hard time getting out of it because we’re comfortable. It’s okay to get out of your comfort zone and explore new avenues that you might not have considered for the way your career and life would go.
While temporary positions might seem risky, you can look at it as a new experience that opens your eyes to new things, knowledge and experience that can help you in the future.
Take the risk, learn a new skill, improve your knowledge, and that will reward you in its own way. If not, it may open new doors. It took a while for me to understand it, but I am forever grateful for those who motivated me to try new challenges.
How can colleagues help someone transition into their new responsibilities?
Having a good environment where you are friendly, open, honest, and working together to achieve a greater goal. If the environment isn’t inviting, someone won’t feel a part of the team.
Also, be open and available to help colleagues who transition into the team. Be forward and speak with them; let them know you’re available for a chat if they want to know some things about the job.
And the biggest transition tool: Documentation, documentation, DOCUMENTATION. A great team that documents their processes so that new team members can review, understand carefully after reading, and do the job. It serves so much purpose.
What do you look forward to in your day?
Other than a nice cup of hot coffee? I usually come in with a good attitude and curious to what the day has in store for me. A good day starts with a morning coffee and the right mindset.
If you were a chocolate bar, which one would you be?
As my significant better would say: A Caramilk bar. I’m solid on the outside, tend to keep to myself, and am stoic. Soft on the inside once you get to know me.
What ingredient should never be found on a pizza?
Other than the obvious, pineapple? I would say any fruit, unless it’s one of those chocolates or Nutella spread on a dough for dessert. I’m plain jane with pizzas.
What three items would you bring if you were shipped to a deserted island?
I’m going to count a book series as one item: My Wheel of Time collection. A hammock to sleep in at some point. To be practical, some sort of sharp blade to be able to, you know, do anything to survive. The rest, I would make do with what’s on the island.