Roland Parrott
Job Title: Upstream IT Europe, Africa, Middle East Business Support Analyst
Studied: BA in Geography at Cambridge University, and MSc in Geography at
Bristol University
After 6 years as a student I wanted a real job with real money in the IT
industry. I thought that a multinational Blue Chip would provide me the
greatest opportunity to try different jobs within the industry, and ExxonMobil
has not disappointed me.
I started in UK Area Operations working on a number of service improvement
projects. I then moved to join the newly formed Contracts and Services group,
coordinating the delivery of a diverse range of outsourced contracts,
including helpdesks, training, telecoms, etc. This role provided an excellent
opportunity to develop my knowledge of service management, and the procurement
processes of a company the size of ExxonMobil.
At the same time I held a number of other roles which grew my skills, and
knowledge of other parts of the business. These included project managing a
telecoms rationalisation project. I was also one of the out of hours problem
managers for the UK, which gave me a fantastic insight into how to tackle
problems in a structured fashion and an overview of all the IT systems which
ExxonMobil operate in the UK. I also joined the Graduate Recruitment Action
Committee, serving as the link between the IT department and HR for Graduate
Recruitment.
After 2 years in the organisation I moved to the Network Engineering Technical
Services skills centre, where I received a first class technical training in
computer networks. In this role I was responsible for fixing network problems
across Europe, Africa and the Middle East. This was my first experience of
working in a virtual team, with a supervisor in Holland, and members across
all of Europe. This provided good travel opportunities, as well as developing
skills in working as part of a remote team, which I think will become an
increasingly important skill in many jobs.
My next role was as the Network Co-ordinator for the Europe, Africa and Middle
East Region. This role brought together all the skills I had developed in
contract management, networks and consulting, as I was responsible for working
with vendors, project managers and operating groups to ensure the Region's
network develops in line with the companies strategies. Of the projects I
worked on, the most interesting was upgrading the infrastructure across Africa
in advance of deploying a SAP system. It was a great opportunity to work with
some different cultures, and also to learn how culture and different legal
systems changed the relationship I could have with our suppliers.
After 4 ½ years in the company I moved to an role in the Upstream Account
Management team. This has been a great opportunity to work closely with the
Upstream business. The work has been varied and included taking projects
through the initial steps of identifying requirements, assessing business
benefits and developing high level project plans. I have also had a planning
and budgeting responsibility in this role, teaching me lots about how a large
and complex corporation plans and stewards very large budgets. This has been
all the more interesting as the IT organisations restructured, giving me the
opportunity to become more involved in the mechanics of the planning process
than would happen in most years.
Each of my roles has developed different sets of skills, and taken me down
paths I never expected when I joined ExxonMobil. But without trying to sound
cliched, the constant themes have been having a real job from the outset, made
possible by working with teams of very talented and friendly people. Wherever
my career takes me, I think that ExxonMobil has provided me with the best
possible foundation in business and IT management, along with developing my
technical knowledge of IT systems.
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