We know there's one thing that really sets us apart: our people. In this new series, we take you behind the scenes with people from all over DB Results and show you what really makes us tick.
My name is Febina Rodrigues, although most people call me Febe (pronounced like Phoebe). My parents are first-generation emigrants from Mangalore, India, a coastal city noted for its gorgeous beaches, and I grew up in Dubai, the wonder city. I relocated to Melbourne four years ago to pursue my Masters degree in Business Information Systems – and for better coffee! I’ve been with DB Results for 18 months, where I work as a consultant in a multi-faceted role that includes OutSystems development, business analysis, Atlassian administration, and people management. I work mainly in the Managed Services team, where I am responsible for providing technical assistance and guidance, gathering needs, triaging severity issues, and improving our digital applications.
I started as an Internship Consultant at DB Results, and before the end of the year I had been promoted to Consultant. Switching from an intern to a consultant, and then knowing that I can be a developer, a Digital Team Lead, or anything else, has been a personal and professional highlight for me. Knowing that I can empathise with my customers' pain points, understand their goals and create work that satisfies those needs has been a terrific experience for me. It's a great experience to make such a difference in our clients' lives or businesses. I'm also a people leader, which explains my selectively extroverted personality quite well. I appreciate learning new technology, but I enjoy sharing what I've learned even more. I'm a people-oriented person, not just within the organisation, but also with customers and people outside of work. One of the reasons I enjoy consulting so much, I feel, is the ability to meet so many different people from many walks for life.
My days usually begin with stand ups, where we discuss our progress from the previous day, what we aim to do today, and any roadblocks. My typical day consists of at least discussions across three projects, and I prioritise my daily tasks based on a number of factors including my capacity, client availability, ticket severity, and people management. My role and responsibilities change from project to project. I conduct desk checks, align with the DEV/UX/UI team to see if they need any clarifications, have client catch ups to discuss progress updates, support Atlassian administrative activities for the organisation, problem solve severity issues, and manage my stakeholders. Learning about the various sectors I support within the Managed Services umbrella is one of the most enjoyable aspects of my job - I'll go from learning about explosive product inventories and price management to being enthralled by the prospect of creating online wills for a legal firm to apps that collect soil samples in the field.
Apart from my corporate persona, I have several lives! Having experience both as a BA and as a developer is definitely helpful. It's much easier for me to write requirements because I understand what the developer will need to know. Even though I'm sometimes tempted to dig straight into the code when I'm a BA, I can call the developer and ask for the functionality behind it, and it makes it easy to visualise and foresee any coding gaps. My experience as a developer also makes it easy to understand the technical terms that customers might not be familiar with, and explain what we've been building to them in layman's terms.
Away from work, I spend a lot of time with my family, friends, and my tiny nieces, who provide me with the energy I need. My nieces adore board games just as much as I do – I'm still a kid at heart. While I'm relieved we're no longer in lockdown, I'm eager to travel and meet my friends who live all over the world. I'm not sure what I'd do if we didn’t have online tools or social media to connect us. My friends and I play games on Zoom, regardless of distance, time zones, or location. On other occasions, I'll prefer to spend my evenings with alone with a glass of wine: I'm a homebody, or maybe lockdown has conditioned me! Starting out as an international student with aspirations to work and live in a different country on a permanent basis, this has been a dream come true for me. It's taken a long time to happen, and it is something that a lot of people, including myself, desire to achieve. I'm delighted I was able to do so. I'm looking forward to seeing my family again; one of my goals was to bring them closer to me. My family means a lot to me: if they're happy, I'm happy. With lockdown over and open borders on the horizon, here's hoping that families unite and can eat wonderful meals together again soon!
Want to find out more about the fantastic people behind DB Results?
Make sure to check out the rest of the series: Renee Cook and Michelle Marchewka
