Firebrand Stories

Jennifer Hamling-Hills's Story

I started working for HP Professional Services as a Project Analyst in 2000 and this kicked off my career in IT Project Support. I stayed with HP until 2005 when I took voluntary redundancy and decided to become a contractor. I landed my first contract role in 2005 with Cognos for 3 months then got my first break in Telecoms with Vodafone UK in 2006. I have worked on several large scale projects for Vodafone UK and Vodafone Group Services and have jumped from one project to the next by recommendation until I finished my last project in October 2016 and am now looking for my next adventure.

I chose PRINCE2 Foundation and Practitioner, because I've waited to do this since I started with HP, the training budget was slashed shortly before I was due to go on the course. I think my career could have been more interesting had I taken it back then but I'm grateful I can now say I've done it! I can't wait to start a new role and apply my new skills. I have also done ITIL Foundation, another one I've wanted to do for a long time. I am making a move into Microsoft training next week as I go on my MTA Database Fundamentals, something I've worked on but not had any formal training so can only make me more attractive to potential employers.

I would like to move into a Delivery type role and get some technical skills under my belt as well as gaining more ITIL qualifications. I am looking forward to doing my Business Analysis Diploma in October. I also want to develop my existing skills with Microsoft SharePoint and learn the technical foundation skills so I can also specialise in SharePoint solutions.

I am extremely lucky to have won such an amazing prize (Free Training For Life) at a point where I can take advantage of my 'between jobs' status and focus on broadening my skill set and knowledge which I think will improve my future prospects significantly. I love learning and the technique used by Firebrand is fast and pretty tough but after the first couple of courses, you realise it's probably the most effective form of delivery as you'll know that it really does work. In the long term, I really want to boost my earning potential to the max and hopefully get a good 10 years at that level. After that, I'm going to retire! From working that is, I can always do more training for personal improvement.