Women@PS: My journey to becoming a Senior Manager Technology

My name is Caroline and I am a Senior Manager Technology at Publicis Sapient in Munich. Looking back at how my professional life started, who would have thought that I would develop a career focusing on Salesforce at Publicis Sapient? Originally, I am from the UK and studied German and History — nothing that would lead to a career in technology, right? But it always turns out differently from what you think.

How I started my career in technology

After I completed my master’s degree in International Business, I started working in financial services in London with a strong focus on marketing and project management. During a 12-month internship in Germany, my desire to work and live permanently outside of the UK grew. Salesforce Marketing Cloud experts were in demand back then as they are today. I started working in a tech company in the hotel and metasearch domain in Düsseldorf. It provided an amazing startup learning environment where I could deepen my practical Salesforce knowledge. However, after 3 years, I was ready for a new challenge and I decided to divert my career towards consulting. So, I headed South to Munich and started at another company as a Salesforce consultant. During that time, I knew someone who was working at Publicis Sapient, who shared some exciting insights into the culture of the company. Previously, I had missed working with people from different backgrounds and cultures. Thus, I am very happy to have found this again here. We are a global community of diverse and open-minded people with a strong workplace culture. 

What makes my job so special

My job is anything but boring! Every single day is different. As a Salesforce expert I work as a part of cross-functional teams to solve business problems of our clients across industries. Currently, I am working for a global automotive leader. I am developing the strategy for Salesforce product implementation and setting up the operational teams to achieve the client’s vision. At the same time, I am also consulting on all technical aspects and sharing my expertise where needed. At Publicis Sapient you own your career growth. You have the opportunities both for specializing within a certain area and for broadening your knowledge. Besides the variety of projects, you work in an international setup. We have more than 50 offices across the globe and a strong network - thanks to being part of the Publicis Groupe. Every single day I am working not only with colleagues from Munich but also across Europe as well as from India and Malaysia which I absolutely love!

My advice for Women in Tech

Within technology, especially in senior roles, there is still a gender imbalance, which puts off women joining the tech industry. I think gender imbalance is slowly reducing, especially in consulting — at least in my own experience at Publicis Sapient it seems more balanced with a large range of roles filled by women — from traditional developers to program leads, which helps to break down the stereotypes.

How to be successful in this environment? My advice would be to always be eager to stay on top of your product knowledge and be open-minded. Communicate clearly to get your point across. You can learn a lot from others, and you should also share your expertise. I would also recommend finding a mentor who supports you along your career path. Mentoring is really important. Sometimes you just need an outside perspective or someone who has been in a similar situation to help you find your way.