From an Occupational Psychology Masters Student to Salesforce Managing Consultant

Hi, I’m Yasemin and I’m co-founder of Verve Women.

As part of running our new venture, I focus on writing content for the blog and coaching, mentoring and supporting women to develop their careers in the tech industry with Kelly. 

I have worked in tech consulting for just under six years and led and delivered projects for some amazing clients. I have won a number of awards such as the Value Award, Consultant of Half One and Best Role Model Award, as well as earning five tech certifications. 

But would I have known I would be working in tech after graduating? Definitely not. I thought I always knew what I wanted to do: to work in the health sector as a Clinical Psychologist…but this all changed after graduating.  

This article describes my road to get to where I am today, the good and the bad. I hope it resonates with where you may be today and where you want to get to, and that to work in tech doesn’t mean to know how to code. This is where Verve Women comes in; we’re here to support you to achieve your goals getting into the tech industry. 

Psychologist at heart

I studied Psychology at University of Westminster, because I thought I always wanted to be a Psychologist. Coming from a very traditional Turkish family, it was always going to be about either becoming a lawyer or someone working in the health sector (my dad still has a dream one of us will become a Doctor!)...or so I thought. In sixth form, I realised I really enjoyed Psychology and decided this was what I wanted to pursue at university. 

Working in technology had never crossed my mind throughout university either, but this was because there weren't any role models I had to look up to in the tech industry and my own misconceptions about the industry. All the successful leaders I had seen in the tech industry were mainly middle aged, white men…clearly cutting me out of the equation. 

But I’m not the only female who thought like this, the Harvard Business Review also found that Gender bias is the common denominator holding women back from pursuing roles in STEM industries

“Gender bias is the common denominator, manifesting in cultures hostile to women: the “lab-coat culture” in science that glorifies extreme hours spent toiling over experiments and penalizes people who need the flexibility to, say, pick up their kids from day care.”

If only we had our break the bias blog article back then!

Opportunity of a lifetime

After my final exam, I started job hunting. Fearlessly looking for Assistant Psychologist positions; I had the grades, I had the experience (I completed a year in industry in a mental health hospital)...but this couldn’t have been more difficult! Of course there were plenty of health related roles I could have applied to, but I knew what I wanted, I wanted to be a Clinical Psychologist and the route to this was through work experience as an Assistant Psychologist to increase my chances of getting onto the Clinical Psychology doctorate program. Little did I know that the skills I gained throughout studying Psychology and my year of placement would actually land me the job on a graduate program in tech.

In my final year, while applying for other jobs, I attended a career fair where I first came across FDM Group. They started talking about roles in tech and that we didn’t need an IT degree to do it, so it sparked my interest. 

After much research in this area, I decided I needed a backup just in case I can’t find a job in Psychology and gave myself a deadline of ‘by the beginning of this graduate program’. Still at this point, I didn’t intend on actually working in tech, I knew my future was in Psychology. 

I tailored my CV to fit what FDM was looking for. This is when I realised how much of my soft skills were transferable to the tech industry; I was good at communicating, I could empathise with the client and understand their challenges and provide solutions…and I could do all this without knowing code!

You may have guessed it…after a few exams and interviews, I got the job; I was going to be on the Business Analyst program! 

So if you also don’t come from a tech background, don’t feel disheartened. Read the job description and responsibilities carefully, pick out the key words and map each of these to your skills and experiences in your CV so that it is tailored to each role you apply for. Don’t underestimate the transferable skills you can bring into tech from experiences in non-tech roles.

Having spent months looking for a psychology related role and the jobs I was offered in this field…none were the roles I wanted and the salaries were not what I expected. So I decided to give FDM a chance, not realising this was the beginning of the rest of my career in tech. 

Stumbling into Salesforce

When I started at FDM, on our first day we were offered to change our program to a “Business Analyst and Salesforce” program, a new programme even for FDM. What on earth was Salesforce? I had no idea! 

I got home that night and started researching all about it, and I recall, I still didn’t understand it properly but saw how far you can get in this field and being young and naive, got excited about the salary opportunities in this niche market. Oh, and the best part of it all? They kept promoting the mantra “Clicks not Code” so I thought what could be better than this? I jumped at the opportunity! 

Through the program I got my Foundations in Business Analysis and Salesforce Administrator certifications. Now I had both knowledge and evidence to prove it! I realised how much I enjoyed Salesforce and the fulfilment I felt completing projects that I knew will be helping clients was similar to the fulfilment I had felt when helping individuals in the mental health settings I’ve worked in. I was working 7 days a week to fund my travel and food into Central London for the duration of the unpaid training programme to later land a paid role after successful completion of the programme. Fair to say I was close to burning out from having no break. However, in hindsight, if it wasn’t for my experience at FDM, I would not be where I am today. 

I finished the training programme at FDM and moved on. The day I left FDM I got a call from someone I met through networking on Linkedin and got my first Salesforce Admin role at a professional services company. This is how my career in Salesforce started. 

Networking is KEY in the tech industry, or any career for that matter. Don’t feel shy, find people you aspire to be on LinkedIn and talk to them! You never know who might be the person to help you land that first tech job! 

Junior Salesforce Admin to Working Mum…

I worked as a Salesforce Admin for 6 months, learning all about Salesforce in practice and I have to admit, this was VERY different to learning it on a training programme. Yes I had the knowledge, but I wasn’t sure how to put it into practice. I had two amazing mentors here, James & Martin, who I'm still very grateful to have met and worked with. They taught me so much. I made great connections and built up a really good reputation here. 

One of my strengths is definitely that I am a quick learner, but after 6 months, I felt that what I was doing was becoming repetitive. This is usually the sign for me to leave. We spend most of our time at work, it has to be a place you enjoy…I realised I wanted to move out of the company before I started to dislike it and while I still had a great reputation. 

I then landed my first role as a Salesforce Consultant at Pracedo, and the rest is history. Within six months of starting my role, I started leading projects and working one to one with great clients. Within my first year, I became a Lead Consultant. I also achieved more certifications. 

While working as a Salesforce Consultant, I also did my masters in Occupational Psychology..because I felt it will help in my career at an organisational level…and to be frank, I still enjoyed the subject! Oh, and I was also preparing for a wedding. 

This shows if you have the verve and work hard, you can achieve whatever you put your mind to. Yes, it was really hard. Yes, I did feel like giving up at times, but I persevered and now I'm so proud of it! 

A year after starting at Pracedo, I got married, and was pregnant soon after. I went on Maternity Leave and was back to work after a year off. Within 3 months of being back to work, I was promoted to Senior Consultant and Line Manager and started to manage my own team of people. 

3 months…that was shocking even for me! But my company saw my strengths and that I had still had “it”, even after a year gap! 

…to Managing Consultant at a large Corporate firm

Following my promotion and increased responsibilities, nearly 4 years later, I decided it was now time to move on. I landed an amazing opportunity at IBM..I'm now a Salesforce Managing Consultant. 

The sky’s the limit in my career going forward and I'm excited to now take you on this journey with me! 

Best decision of my life

Working in tech…albeit stumbling into it, has been the best decision of my life. I want to set an example for my son, but without compromising on my time with him and missing out on key milestones. I’m able to do that with the flexibility that tech offers me. 

I now want to help other women, from similar walks of life, or different get into tech and show how successful they can be in this industry. Women are incredible beings and I don’t believe there’s a thing we can’t do if we put our mind to it. 

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