Three Experian women reflect on the real drivers behind their tech career decisions

With the myriad possibilities for careers in tech, making the right next move takes more than luck — you need to know where you want to go and, most importantly, your ‘why’.

Three senior Experian managers share how they’ve navigated their professional lives, the drivers for their career decisions, and what drew them to their present roles.

 
Sally Anne Hicks, VP of Automation & Productivity

Know your core interest and see the long game

My interest has always been around finding answers to problems and ways to make systems smarter. When you’ve connected the right systems together, though, the next logical step is to ask ‘how can we make it all even smarter?’ And you do that by automating some of the things that people do in those systems. Experian was looking for a VP of automation and someone reached out to me and said I’d be a good fit. When you do what I’m doing, you can create significant value in a relatively short amount of time, so you want to know that there’s enough to go on to, to have that longevity. Looking into the organisation, seeing the scale of the software solutions and the business plans, I thought, ‘yeah, there’s a lot to do here’.

Know where you can add real value to motivate you

Being able to see the contribution I can make and the effect it has on other people is what motivates and guides me — more so than where I am within an organisation. I’ve always steered myself to places where I can add value — and within technology organisations, that’s about making the technology smarter and about connecting things in ways that they’re not currently connected. I’m also always mindful that we work for a long time in our lives. There’s got to be something in your role that motivates you to do something good in your day, rather than it just being about switching on a keyboard and doing whatever it is that you need to do.

Make sure the culture is a good fit for you

Once you’ve decided that you can add value it’s important to work out whether it’s the right organisation for you — and that includes the culture. Experian is quite different to other IT organisations that I’ve worked at, in that it’s driving a much more generous culture based on collaboration and openness. I’m used to organisations where everybody’s protecting their own set of numbers essentially, and to some extent that, reverberates through everything that people do at work, from the time they spend with you to whether you’re a priority or not.

Get into the centre of things

Particularly in the technology space that I work in, the only constant is change. So, you can’t fear change. I think you always feel most comfortable in a scenario when you’re in the middle of something rather than on the periphery, and the more central you are to things, the better you feel about yourself. If you feel on the edge, you’re uncomfortable, you don’t quite know where your role is or what contribution you can make. So, throw yourself into it, whatever it is, be an agent for change and one of the ones making it happen.

Egle Mikelionyte, Senior Product Manager

Be open to surprising yourself

I never thought I would end up in banking. I always wanted to do something more creative. But my previous role at Barclays and Barclaycard enabled me to experience lots of different roles across the business, and I found that I enjoyed the variety of working with both technical people and creative people like UX designers and creating custom products that really put customers at the centre — and that is a guiding value now as I move through my career in product management.

Combine mission with action

I wanted a role that allowed me to create propositions aimed at Fintech products and Experian has a long-standing reputation for excellence. I’ve always looked out for roles that foster innovation and Experian gave me exactly that, but I was surprised to see just how much focus and time it has for innovation. I’ve not seen that many companies that say they are fostering innovation and then actually implement it in practice — but at Experian every team has innovation as an objective, which is refreshing to see.

Have confidence in your capabilities

My parents instilled strong self-belief and drive in me, and the persistence to never give up. That resilience is so important to keep your motivation and positivity high throughout your career. I love the saying, ‘if you think you can or can’t do it— you’re right either way.’ That underpins everything I do. For me, career success is about knowing that you can achieve anything you put your mind to.

Find a business that listens

A good leader will strive to be inclusive, collaborative and really listen to the team and that is so important to a business culture. They will also make sure that you don’t get removed from customers and that you are always listening to what they are saying and what they need. That’s how you support the team in developing the energy to achieve the ambitions.

Build networks

You need to build your internal network, so you always know what is going on in the business, but you also need to make sure you’re continuously fostering your external networks — especially relevant for product managers — by going to various meetups. That’s how you can keep track of what is happening out in the market, but also how you connect with other people to find career opportunities and get inspiration for your work.


Tanvi Sethi, Senior Strategy Manager

Challenge your own perceptions

I worked in technology as a software developer for six years and I’m now in commercial business strategy. Doing my MBA in 2018 was pivotal in moving me from one side to the other, but even as a software developer, my focus was always on what creates value for the business. Technology leaders have not always been the business decision leaders, even up until recently, although that is changing with CIO roles. Previously, though, decision makers tended to sit on the side of the business. I wanted to bridge that gap so that I could understand the business side as well and become a decision maker at some point.

Align your role with your values

Joining a business like Experian that is good at delivering products was important to me. Coming from a technology background, I wanted to be able to do strategy in a business where that strategy gets executed. I also see Experian as a Fintech company that does good by people, which is an important value for me. We give access to credit to people, but also to education so that they can understand how to manage their finances.

Look for a company that celebrates individuality

I’ve always joined companies that like to develop their people, because businesses grow only as much as their people grow within them. One thing that’s been a good surprise to me at Experian is how all the leaders have very different styles of leadership. In some companies, you see the leadership dictated by the top and everybody behaves in a certain way. Here, people bring their own individual leadership styles to the table, and that gives me the confidence that there’s a role for different types of people to be able to lead.

Look for an innovation culture

Coming from a technology background, it’s easy for me to work at a company like Experian where I can see an innovation culture, which is building products that give people accessibility to education and finance. Traditionally, finance has been an archaic industry where people are not well informed, because they don’t have transparency on how the products work and an understanding of how to control their own finances.

Being adaptable is key to success

My biggest takeaway from my career so far has been the need for adaptability and having a range of different skills. I started my side-business making superfood blends in the middle of pandemic, and that has made me realise that creating a successful business means being able to lead different functions and change and adapt quickly. Transforming with changing demands of the market and working across the business – these are also the qualities I have witnessed in top leaders. Your career is a combination of different things — and that’s what’s exciting about it.

There is a world of opportunity to be found in many different roles at Experian. We’re looking for people who want to build relationships and push themselves to come up with fresh ideas. As a global brand, our role is increasingly important and the impact we make can change things for the better. Making change happen takes people like you who want to make a real difference.

Are you interested in a career at Experian? Have a look at our open opportunities throughout our career site – www.experian.com/careers

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