Business Analyst at Suncorp Group
Jayde studied a Bachelor of Corporate Systems Management and Bachelor of Business at Queensland University of Technology and graduated in 2015.
Suncorp is a dynamic and agile workplace, with flexible teams and working practices. Suncorp leadership are receptive to — and supportive of — employee-driven initiatives, which makes it a fun and engaging place to work.
My role as a Business Analyst (BA) differs day to day. I can be found doing all of the well-known BA tasks such as liaising with stakeholders, elaborating stories and writing acceptance criteria for the team. Along with the rest of the development team, we also actively participate in workshops, whiteboarding design sessions, and attend stand-up meetings with both onshore and offshore partners.
Outside of my immediate team, we have a social club where we run monthly events such as bake sales, Oktoberfest and St Patty’s day. As a part of the wider Suncorp community, I help organise Graduate Community events such as camping trips, karaoke nights and monthly drinks. It really is a fun and dynamic place to work!
Suncorp’s diversity is what attracted me. The opportunity to experience different lines of business such as Banking and Insurance within the same company seemed very advantageous to me (and it has been!).
Our technology graduates don’t have formal rotations. I began my journey with Suncorp as an intern for several months before finishing university, and rolled on to the graduate program. For the first 18 months of my intern and graduate experience I was working on a highly visible, high profile project, building a whole new banking platform. After the new platform was live, I decided I wanted to try something different and was fortunate enough to be able to move around into another team — now I work in Claims Technology.
Suncorp offers both generalist and specialist pathways, depending on the area. My program, Business Technology, is a specialist program.
In the beginning I found the constant deadlines in such a fast-paced environment challenging. However, I have learnt how to deal with the challenge and now it seems odd to experience anything but fast paced!
It has been both challenging and exciting to have experienced fast-paced, highly visible projects with a considerable amount of risk. It was definitely a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Being a part of a large team of developers and testers both onshore and offshore and being able to deliver, and see the value of, a brand new banking platform that we built together was so rewarding. It’s great to have a tangible product to show for my work.
That we are encouraged to reflect at retrospective meetings about what went wrong and what could have been done better, and that the team are there to support each other. It is a great forum for self-reflection and improvement. It’s been a surprise to know that admitting to mistakes and inefficiencies is not only okay, it’s encouraged!
There were four steps to the recruitment process:
Be yourself and don’t be afraid to give it a go! I was never a highly technical IT student and I was a little nervous moving into the IT industry. From my point of view, I believe Suncorp don’t just hire based on merit, they also look for genuine people who will fit well in our workplace, and you can learn and develop your skills on the job!