At Avanade, we create the future by expanding our thinking, experimenting courageously, and learning and pivoting. We do that for our clients, but we also do it in our own careers. Jo Buy, managed services capability lead, shared how this impacted her career journey.

How did you expand your thinking about your career? 

I’ve been fortunate to have an excellent career adviser (CA) and great mentors throughout my four years at Avanade. Each person has individually challenged me to consider what I wanted my next move to be and what I wanted to achieve in my career. I’m very grateful as well that my mentors have challenged the way I think about my own performance and abilities, supporting me in recognizing what I have achieved already and what I can go on to do. Through this coaching, I was able to explore what I enjoyed most about my role at Avanade and where I wanted my next move to be. For me this was realizing that I wanted to stay within Managed Services, using the expertise I have gained in my role as UKI Managed Services Lead to drive success within Avanade’s Managed Service capability.

How did you approach these career moves and how did this help you to progress? 

Having led the UKI Managed Services team for three years, I felt that it was time to meet the different challenges that a new role would bring. I discussed a variety of options with my CA and mentors and then decided to apply for the Global Managed Services Capability role which met my ambition to progress within the Managed Services domain at Avanade.

What is the one piece of advice you would give on how to drive your career journey forward at Avanade? What steps would you recommend someone takes?

The one piece of advice I would give to someone looking to drive their career journey forward is to seek out mentorship in addition to your CA relationship. Look for mentors who can support you in different ways, for example is there someone you consider a role model with similar characteristics and approach to you that you can discuss the challenges you face with – that person is likely to have experienced the same and can guide you in a way to approach the challenges that feels authentic to you. You might seek out another mentor who will challenge you to put yourself out of your comfort zone and strive for new opportunities – someone who sees and recognizes the contribution you bring and can push you to succeed.

When looking to make the next step within your career journey consider what is really important to you in a role, do you want to deepen skills within a specific area or to seek experience across different areas to complement your skill set? I often find it easier to describe what I’m not looking for, which can help me work out which elements of a role are really important to me – the people I work with, opportunities to make a difference and opportunities to progress. Discuss your aspirations with your CA and your mentor(s), they will have wide networks and can support you in finding your next role opportunity. Be open to conversation around different roles, something you might not consider on face value might be a great growth opportunity for you.

Can you describe a distinctive experience in your career journey that has made you feel #AvanadeProud?

My promotion to director at Avanade made me feel hugely proud. Having joined Avanade after 19 years with Accenture, my roles had been in client facing service delivery and project management roles. Moving to Avanade was also my move into a pre-sales Solution Architect role. Having worked as part of the UKI Managed Services team for 12 months, I then went on to lead the team which was both an opportunity to grow and an “uncomfortable at times” learning curve for me. Through my three years as Lead, I grew the team significantly, introducing new roles to grow the Managed Services footprint in the UKI. I felt that my director promotion really recognized the difference I made to the UKI Managed Services business, which also provided me with the springboard into my new Managed Services Capability Lead role.

Tell us about a bold career move, or significant milestone, that has made a real impact in your career journey so far.

I think my boldest career move was my move from Accenture to Avanade. I enjoyed all my Accenture roles, ranging from SI project delivery work to apps and infrastructure projects and latterly into Service Management and Technology Service Delivery Management. Moving to Avanade meant a move into a pre-sales Solution Architect role. Whilst apprehensive about a move from what I had known for so long, I was encouraged by mentors to take the new opportunity that Avanade offered me. My Avanade colleagues have all been incredibly friendly and supportive, encouraging me not only to explore the role of the Solution Architect and move on to lead complex engagements, but to draw on many years of client facing experience to bring real delivery experience to the solutions I work on.