How long have you worked for the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA)?
Four and a half years.
Can you briefly describe your job role?
As Senior IT Service Manager, my job consists of the overall running of managed service providers and being a point of contact or escalation for internal stakeholders of services. I also take a hybrid approach, being a technical person, and get involved with that nature of work quite often in conjunction with service management. I’m very well known as ‘the phone guy’.
What led you to join the MCA?
I saw my original job just by chance, looking for a new challenge. When I saw it, I wasn’t sure what IT Service Management was as a whole and thought it would be good to throw myself in the deep end and learn some new skills. Since starting, I’ve managed to bag a promotion (same job, higher grade) following a few months of deputising.
What does a typical workday look like for you?
Back-to-back meetings and keeping on top of emails and Teams messages! But when I eventually get some downtime from meetings, I tend to try and attack my to-do list in order of priority.
What do you enjoy the most about your role?
The fast-paced, constant flow of work really challenges me (in a good way) and moving from task to task and onto a wide variety of different things keeps me focused. Primarily, I am a service manager focusing on corporate systems, but I find myself dipping into the blue light (999 and emergency systems) side of things, and of course, telephony!
What do you feel makes the MCA stand out as an organisation / employer?
The team we have within the MCA really makes it. Everyone is very friendly and approachable, and I’ve never worked in a place where we do so many team building activities. Things like that really makes the MCA stand out as a workplace. Also, the variety of work we do keeps the job interesting and engaging.