Calybre Graduate / Intern Programme

Job description

The Data Consultant Intern is an entry level role geared to fast-tracking the focused development of the aspiring data professional with relevant, practical skills including attention given to the development of consulting competencies, such as communication, commercial-awareness, time-management, teaming, project management and ultimately leadership. All entry-level starters run through the same Consultant Journey programme at Calybre. This programme has been designed to ensure that our consultants become placeable very quickly with our customers so that they can begin their journey to becoming fully fledged data consultants. The full programme runs for a year, with intense learning counter-balanced with customer experience to ensure a well-rounded approach. On successful completion of this first year, the Junior Consultant progresses to the Year 2 programme with increased specialization and depth achieved through continued learning and customer project work. CALYBRE LEVELS At Calybre, we aim to demystify the term ‘Senior’ and attempt to align the right consultant to the requirement, based on their ability rather than the years that they have been working. The same consultant may be entry-level on one technology stack or focus area but be highly experienced in another. Calybre levels are defined as follows: Calybre Level Description Might be called: Junior Intern Graduate Associate 2 Novice: Consultant has all of L1 + some hands-on experience but needs continual guidance to reach the end goal. Junior Intermediate Consultant Senior Associate 3 Mid-level: Consultant has 1 – 2 years’ experience and can manage familiar workloads with minimal guidance. Is confident in identifying new problems and navigating solution in a ‘safe’ manner; knows when to ask for help. Consultant Intermediate 4 Experienced: Consultant has 3+ years’ experience, working with minimal guidance, may start leading L1/2 consultants. Consultant Senior 5 Very experienced: Consultant has more than 6 years’ experience. Often asked to lead teams, define solutions, takes ownership. Senior 6 Very very experienced: Touching on 10 years’ experience, this consultant is an anchor in delivery teams, offering leadership to other consultants and called on by the customer for advice. May work in architecture role. Principal Team Lead 7 Very very very experienced: Over 10 years’ experience in the field, this consultant is seen as a leader both internally and by the customer. Can lead teams from a career development perspective and also from a delivery perspective. Architect Principal Team Lead 8 These people have dedicated their career to the field, are thought leaders and offer strategic guidance to clients regarding their data landscape. Partner Enterprise Architect THE INTERN’S JOURNEY AT CALYBRE Month 1 - 3: For the first 3 months, interns are expected to dedicate their time to learning and upskilling. They join us as part of a team, called a Pod, of up to 8 people. This group will report to an Engagement Lead and a People Manager, who will guide them on their journey. The first 3 months of the programme are applicable to either track of Data Engineer or Data Analyst. This is the foundational phase of the programme and includes various introductory courses in both data analytics and data engineering, as well as so-called Power Skills, including Communication (written and verbal), General Consulting Skills, Time Management etc. The People Manager and Engagement Lead will work with the intern to make the decision as to their preferred direction of specialisation, which starts from Month 4. The intern is given support – both technical and general – to ensure their success. They are expected to work through the material at their own pace, with minimum achievement gates laid out in the programme. For the over-achievers, it is possible to forge ahead on the programme and attain further accreditations and/or skills. There are various examinations and certifications included in the programme. These may vary from time-to-time but each Calybre consultant is required to achieve all certifications defined in the programme. At the end of this intensive 3-month programme, the intern should be placeable at customers. Month 4 - 6: Once the intern has completed the first 3 months’ programme successfully, they will be ready to spend some time at one of our customers. During this phase, they are expected to be billing 50% of their time and will work as part of a team delivering to a customer. The learning and development programme continues in parallel and will occupy the intern for the remaining 50% of their available time. The intern also starts with a more focused development track during this phase, dropping into detail on either Analytics or Data Engineering. Month 7 - 12: The intern now progresses into the role of Junior Consultant. Having completed the 6-month intensive programme, billability expectations are now increased to a minimum of 75% of a 36-hour week for months 7 – 9, rising to a 90% expectation for months 10 - 12. 4 hours / week is always set aside to allow for continued learning and development. The defined programme continues to challenge and support the technical and general consulting skills required to ensure the junior consultant’s ongoing success, both personally and at their customers. The consultant is now able to select more specialized tracks, increasing their depth of knowledge in either data analytics or data engineering, data security or data science. During this phase, the consultant can work as a fully-fledged, albeit junior, member of a delivery team. KEY ACCOUNTABILITIES / RESPONSIBILITIES 1. Be Accountable for your own Growth: We have designed a great learning programme for you – having years of experience in the field of Business Intelligence, Data Warehousing and Data Analytics, we believe we have a good idea of what it takes to become a successful data consultant. We also know that there is great opportunity for competent people in this field…globally. We love to surround ourselves with like-minded people. We want to see you grow and will be there for you as a support system; however, the hard work is up to you. We expect to see our interns and juniors take accountability for their own growth. This means that you need to understand the learning programme, where you are in terms of the development steps and what comes next. Don’t expect to be spoon-fed or micro-managed; consultants hate being managed in that way, and we admit, in advance, that we are not good at this type of management. 2. Show up with Excellence Every Day: Following on from point 1, we expect that all members of our team, from the wide-eyed newbies to the grey-haired been-around-the-blockers, show up with EXCELLENCE every single day. One of our values is ‘We are proud to be part of an amazing team that does amazing work.’ We expect a consistent level of attention to your work from Day 1. Things don’t always have to be perfect, but we should always be proud about the way we have approached things, giving our very best to the task at hand. 3. Don’t be afraid to ask when you don’t know: You will quite possibly be surrounded by people who know more than you and that can be disconcerting at times. Our culture fosters learning including learning from each other. Sometimes, it may be important to learn through problem-solving but there are times when hearing how somebody else solved a problem can fast-track a solution which can be beneficial to our clients. We never want you to feel alone. You join us as part of a pod – these people are your peers and applying the adage of ‘two heads are better than one’ is of great relevance here. Your Engagement Lead is a technical expert and has probably forgotten things that you have yet to learn – draw on his / her knowledge to fast-track your own development. Your People Manager has studied Psychology and made his / her career out of helping people to succeed in the workplace – this is someone who can help you to make sense of difficult situations and support you in navigating a path to a solution. Our Leadership team have many years of experience in consulting in a variety of roles and will be more than willing to share their experiences with you. 4. Be prepared to help your colleagues As much as it is important for you to ask questions, it is equally important for you to exercise your own voice. Become a Go-To person in your team – this is a skill which will stand you in good stead when you are working at a customer. Being there for your colleagues and helping them to solve problems that they may be finding difficult is all part of your learning journey. KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS • Completion of learning modules on time • Passing exams on time • Timesheet completion – on time and with accuracy • Adherence to expectations in terms of contract hours – timesheet of 8 hrs / day • Achievement of billability target o Billability Month 1 – 3: 0% o Billability Month 4 – 6: 50% (measured as 50% of available hours at end of month 6) o Billability Month 7 – 9: 75% (measured as 75% of available hours at end of month 9) o Billability Month 10 – 12: 90% (measured as 90% of available hours at end of month 12)  Available hours: 36 hours / week except for weeks with public holidays and allowing for annual leave  4 hours per week is set aside for continual learning A DAY IN THE LIFE THE INTERN AT CALYBRE: It’s the start of a new week. You are hugely proud of your accomplishments in the last few weeks, since joining Calybre. This was a great career move as you know that with the support you are receiving, you are on a sure path to success. You have finalized the section on basic technical skills and you feel just about ready to take your first exam. Later today, you have a virtual team meeting with the other members of your pod. It has been great getting to know them and sharing approaches and ideas. Your daily check-in meetings are useful because it gives you a chance to benchmark your progress against your peers, although it is not a competition, you can’t help feeling just a little bit competitive! That doesn’t stop you from reaching out for help, though. Just the other day, Lesedi came up with a brilliant way of looking at things that you would never have thought of. You hope to be able to repay the favour one day soon! Philip, the Engagement Lead, has been inspirational in his leadership. It really gives a great sense of comfort knowing that when you are ready to go on site to a customer, he will be there to support you. And don’t forget Ashley, your People Manager. What a difference she has made already. You know that she has your back and wants you to grow into the best possible version of yourself. That really doesn’t seem like such a far-fetched idea at all! You can see the path ahead with complete clarity and feel so motivated and excited about the opportunity that has been made available to you. THE JUNIOR CONSULTANT AT CALYBRE: It is a huge achievement to be able to deliver value at a customer; to be able to practically apply the data skills that you have been learning for the last 7 months at Calybre. You have been working as part of the customer team for 4 months now and what a steep learning curve it has been. Those first few weeks were daunting – working with real customer data and attending meetings with senior decision makers. Suddenly, the world felt very real. These are real businesses with real people making decisions that have so much impact! And your dashboard is being used to drive some of those decisions. It feels kind of unreal. Thankfully, the opportunity to continue your learning has enabled you to build the theory behind the real-world challenges you are facing daily at work. Your purpose in choosing data as a career is becoming clearer and while you felt inspired by Calybre’s vision and values when you joined, you now properly understand why they are so important. There is still so much to learn but you are confident that you are building the right skills to ensure that you are able to practice your craft. You are receiving good constructive feedback from the customer and your Engagement Lead and People Manager. You know that you need to work on some of your Power Skills and that building technical knowledge will not be enough to reach the level of success that you aspire to, but with the ongoing support you are receiving, you know that the next level is not out of reach. You are going to start actively speaking up in your customer meetings – put that idea that you have nothing valuable to say behind you! That’s what Ashley advised in your one-on-one session this morning. You knew that you would have to step out of your comfort zone and watching Philip engage with the customer, you can see what you have to do. The customer is comfortable with you moving onto the project full-time from next month, which is great validation of the progress you have made. You are so proud that you have achieved all the milestones laid out in the programme for ‘First Years’ at Calybre and you are looking forward to the final quarter of your year which will prepare you for the next year as an Intermediate Consultant. KEY PERSONAL ATTRIBUTES Key Personal Attributes Core Competencies Self-starter – in the same way the sun gets up every morning, doesn’t have to be asked to get the show on the road Self-development, high energy / high pride, Action Oriented, Drive for Results, Setting Goals Stays the Distance – will keep the lights on as long as necessary to get the job done Grit, Determination, Commitment, Self-development What you see is what you get – true story High moral code, integrity, self-confidence, courage Bright – intellectually and socially Self-confidence, self-development, intellectual horsepower, high energy / high pride Independent – doesn’t want to be micro-managed but works as part of a team Organisational agility, Setting Goals, Process Oriented, Drive for Results, Action Oriented Genuinely interested in technology, especially data – if it hasn’t been stored in a field, it doesn’t exist, right? Self-development Cheerleader of cheerleaders – your team is your tribe Loyalty, High moral code, Integrity, Building Team Spirit REQUIREMENTS FOR ROLE • Tertiary Education – Degree in Information Technology / Commerce / Engineering or equivalent • Evidence of some ‘Real Life’ experience in a working situation • Alignment to Key Personal Attributes • Strong alignment to company values CONTRACT HOURS / FLEXIBLE WORK The first year at Calybre has a well-defined plan of activities, deliverables and outputs laid out in the Consultant Journey. • For the first 3 months of the Intern/Junior programme, the consultant spends 100% of their time following the full-time learning track. o There will be time spent collaborating with other members of the consultant’s pod, with more experienced pods, with the People Manager and with the Engagement Lead. These formal sessions will be planned, and the consultant is expected to be available to attend these sessions. o Course material can be covered by the consultant in their own time, although the completion dates for each module are fixed according to the programme and the consultant is expected to achieve these deadlines. Programmes are designed around 40 hours / week, incorporating meeting time.This is referred to as Flexibility Level 1. • From month 4 - 6, the successful Intern moves from full-time learning to a partially billable role. o The intern is expected to bill at a customer for 50% of their time from month 4 to 6. o The remaining 50% of the consultant’s time is dedicated to continuing with the learning programme. The same principles for learning as in the first 3 months will apply. o As this level incorporates time at the customer which may result in varied time available, this is referred to as Flexibility Level 2. • From month 7 – 9, the billability requirement of the now Junior Consultant increases to 75%. o The remaining 25% of the consultant’s time is dedicated to continuing with the learning programme. The same principles for learning as in the first 3 months will apply. o As this level incorporates time at the customer which may result in varied time available, this is referred to as Flexibility Level 2. • From month 10 to month 12, the Junior Consultant is expected to achieve 90% billability of a 36-hour week. o A consultant is contracted on a 40-hour week. As we expect consultants to follow a continual learning pattern, 4 hours per week is set aside for this continual learning. o During this phase of their development, a consultant is expected to capture a minimum of 40 hours per week on their timesheet, spread across 5 working days (Monday to Friday), in a traditional working model. o The consultant is also expected to align to the rhythm of their customer, ensuring that they are available for meetings planned by the customer and that they understand the deadlines and required outputs and deliverables. This is referred to as Flexibility Level 3. FLEXIBILITY LEVEL DESCRIPTIONS Flexibility Level Contractual time to be spent as follows: May be called Level 1 • 40 hrs / week • Monday to Friday • 8 hrs / day • May start / finish at any time of day providing you attend planned meetings • 0% billability Intern / Graduate Level 2 • 40 hrs / week • Monday to Friday • Hours / day may vary • May start / finish at any time of day • 50% or 75% billability Intern/Junior Consultant @ 50% or 75% billability Level 3 • 40 hrs / week • Monday to Friday • Hours / day may vary • May start / finish at any time of day • 16 hrs learning / month to be completed at any time during the month • 90% billability Junior Consultant @ 90% billability FLEXIBILITY LEVEL CRITERIA Flexibility Level Criteria (criteria at lower level to be met to progress to higher level) Level 1 Booking timesheet 8 hrs / day Timesheets on time and accurate Meeting deadlines for learning programme successfully Level 2 Billing at 50% or 75% Booking timesheet 8 hrs / day Timesheets on time and accurate Customer satisfied with delivery Meeting deadlines for learning programme successfully Level 3 Billing at 90% Booking timesheet 40 hrs / week with hours booked on 5 days / week although some days may be less than 8 hours Timesheets on time and accurate Customer satisfied with delivery Meeting deadlines for learning programme successfully ABOUT CALYBRE Calybre is a new initiative with its’ background in an established Business Technology Solutions organisation with over 20 years’ history. The power of focus and a desire to create a sustainable place of work for like-minded individuals drove the founders to establish this new entity with its’ core purpose to build great data skills for the world. Calybre is a global business with its’ roots in South Africa and the United Kingdom. CALYBRE VALUES There are certain core human values that we believe should be at the heart of every person and that set the standard for how we engage with each other and everyone around us. These values include integrity, honesty, fairness, respect, consistency, transparency, trustworthiness, accountability. The Calybre values are additional to these core values, creating a high standard that each and every employee should be proud to achieve. • We are passionate about data. • We are proud to be part of an amazing team that does amazing work. • We have confidence, passion, grit and energy and we show up with authenticity every day. • We believe in each other and in the opportunities we can create by working together. • We strive to create a work environment and a culture of belonging where people can thrive.