Michaël talks about his career at Quanteam

Michaël talks about his career at Quanteam

Michaël talks about his career at Quanteam 2560 1704 Quanteam

How do you go from development to project management?

As a Consultant Manager with Quanteam for the past 9 years, Michaël has worked on a variety of projects within the company: from developer to project owner, then project management and finally team management.

At Quanteam, our consultants are supported throughout their career by a dedicated HR team, who implement a genuine "Employment and Skills Management" policy. Our priority is to be close to our employees and to listen to them, and our managers regularly discuss their needs with each consultant, particularly in terms of career development.

Our constant aim is to support and develop our consultants according to their personal aspirations. To achieve this, we use a variety of means: training (internal or external), coaching by other consultants, networking with expert consultants and, of course, proposing new projects to bring them, directly or indirectly, to the goals they wish to achieve.

A look back at Michaël's evolutionary journey:

Why did you want to move from developer to project manager?

During my first assignment with Quanteam, I spent a third of my time in contact with the business, understanding their needs, formalizing and testing them. This experience, which was as rich in human terms as it was in functional terms, encouraged me to open up to other perspectives in terms of knowledge, interventions and therefore career development.

I also found that the MOA gave me a complementary vision of what a project as a whole is all about. I was able to gain perspective on my subjects by focusing on the context and the need, rather than just seeing the technical solution.

Finally, I really enjoy building relationships, understanding the people I work with, and having the satisfaction of delivering a result that corresponds to the needs they have expressed. I like communicating and getting in touch with people. So it was only logical that I should go into project management, because it's based above all on contact and communication.

... then from project owner to project manager?

After 3 years on a variety of project management assignments, a former client offered me the opportunity to take on the role of project manager and project owner. At the time, it was unusual for a consultant to be entrusted with this dual role, including needs analysis, resource management and budget management.

This mission was a springboard, as it enabled me to pursue other missions as a Project Manager and to manage new subjects in a completely autonomous way.

Switching from project management to project management was another logical step. In fact, I was once again broadening my field of vision to steer, orchestrate and give rhythm to all the work. Like the MOA, I also needed to have a good sense of contact and communication skills.

How did you make the transition from "technical" to "functional"?

I mainly worked on 3 aspects:

  • First of all, I reviewed the way I formulated and presented my competence file. I had to show the customer that, over and above my technical skills, my past experience had given me a functional veneer that would enable me to talk to someone in the business.
  • Then, before each qualification interview, I read up on the customer's background and business (Wikipedia, customer website, books). When I arrived on assignment, I also questioned my contacts whenever I didn't understand or didn't know a financial product or an aspect of the business. In this way, I reinforced my functional knowledge.
  • Finally, I had to make what I call "the mourning of the code". As my role was no longer to manufacture, but to specify and test a solution to a need, I had to try not to interfere with the developers' work. This was extremely frustrating at times.

How did Quanteam support you in these changes? Were you able to take any in-house training courses?

Quanteam helped me first of all by targeting the assignment that would best match my desire to move into project management. I also benefited from training courses in finance and project management during my various assignments.

At the time, I would have liked to have been able to benefit from the support of a consultant or personalized coaching, but this did not yet exist within the firm. I think I could have benefited from it, especially in anticipating or better managing my day-to-day difficulties. That's why I'm now involved in consultant training, follow-up and coaching.

So you're involved in coaching consultants at Quanteam. Are there any other projects you're involved in?

I'm very much involved in my role as coach/consultant. I try to help consultants solve their day-to-day methodological and organizational problems. I also train consultants in project management, and share my experience with those wishing to move into these fields.

At the same time, I'm currently working on organizing the Consultants Managers community around internal initiatives and projects.

I'm also interested in how Quanteam could improve the management of consultants' knowledge and skills.

What is your background and what types of projects did you start working on at Quanteam?

My academic background includes a Master's degree in Mathematics and Computer Science from Paris Dauphine in 2001. I then started my professional experience in a software company as a developer in various fields (polling institute, press, public organizations), then exclusively in market finance from 2004.

When I joined Quanteam in 2008, my first assignment was to develop new functionalities for a Front Office tool. As the team didn't have an MOA, the customer asked me to take on this role in parallel. After 2 years spent in this dual role, I decided to leave the technical side of things behind and make the transition to pure MOA.

A few final words?

I like to think that a career is never a straight line where you progress linearly and steadily towards a goal. Our path depends above all on the opportunities that come our way, the encounters we make and our ability to show that, through our work, it's always possible to acquire the skills we lack.

I'd also like to add that I don't think there's any obstacle a consultant can't overcome, as long as he or she knows how to be curious, attentive and willing.

an article written by...

Michaël,

Consultant Manager at Quanteam

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