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We speak to James Douglas, Associate Director – Delivery, about his career experience so far, how i3Works supports his role as a reserve, and what he gets up to in his spare time.
Can you tell us about your career experience before joining i3Works?
Prior to joining i3Works I was employed by the British Army, initially joining the Royal Signals reserves as a Radio Telegraphist, I later joined the regular army and re-traded to Radio Technician, specialising in the maintenance and repair of HF Radio systems. As my career progressed I moved into Systems Engineering, Network Engineering, Information and Cyber Security, finishing in the Army as a Troop Commander in the Army Cyber Protection Team.
What is your role and what does an average week look like for you?
I am an Associate Director, responsible to the Delivery Director for line management of approx. 32 consultants from Managing Consultants to newly arrived graduates on our Fast track Consulting programme. I am also in the process of handing over the Head of IT role, remaining responsible for Information and Cyber Security.
As an AD, I am currently deployed client side. I am an active member of the Army Reserves (in a specialist Cyber Security troop) and also volunteer as a Qualified Swim England Swimming Teacher & Technical Official for the competitive swimming club both my children train and compete with.
What attracted you to i3Works?
I had no prior knowledge of i3Works when I was introduced to Ben and Gregor, two of the directors, at my first interview. They offered me a role and suggested I speak to some of their employees, one of whom I knew from my days in the Army — Damian Gunn. Damian really sold the company to me, focussing on the culture and the talent on the team. This struck a chord with me — as someone who relishes getting things done, having skilled colleagues you can trust and rely on is key!
Can you share a project or achievement you’re particularly proud of?
One achievement I am particularly proud of is my first deployment in i3Works as a Solutions Architect looking at agile tooling for Defence Digital and the provision of Agile coaching and assistance. I led a small team of associate Agile coaches and i3Works BA, and we provided agile coaching and training across 120 workshops to 356 key executive staff across Ministry of Defence. We also delivered the recommended solution to Defence Digital that was accepted and taken forward.
Why am I proud of this? Because although we were a newly constructed team that had never worked together before, we worked closely to develop our processes and create a positive culture which we demonstrated to the client on every engagement.
How does i3Works support you as a reserve?
As a reserve, the most difficult thing to balance is our annual camp, where we have to complete 16 days of continuous training. i3Works have been outstanding in supporting this, ensuring that taking time off both from client-side support and from the business is not just permitted, but actively encouraged. i3Works recently obtained Armed Forces Covenant Gold status, which means the business goes above and beyond to support reserves and veterans – for example I am paid by the business for this training period, which means that I am no longer considerably out or pocket when fulfilling my reserve commitment.
How would you describe the culture at i3Works?
I would describe our culture as open, honest and supportive. We pride ourselves on delivering for each other, for our clients and for customers, and this is embodied in our language and interactions. As a company, we recently formalised our culture, and even the manner in which this was done really highlighted this.
The whole company came together and described what we thought our culture was — this was done without the Senior Leadership Team present, which really gave us ownership of our culture. We distilled this into three words we felt best summarised our team, our work and our approach — Dynamic, Purposeful and Supportive.
What’s your favourite part about working here?
Although I really want to say the in-house masseuse (yes, really, we have a masseuse in the office every Thursday), honestly it is my colleagues. I absolutely love being part of an organisation that values its people, and the people earn that value by virtue of their professional expertise, willingness to learn, and most importantly, eagerness to get stuff done!
How does the company support your professional goals and aspirations?
i3Works has supported, and continues to support, my professional goals and aspirations not just by providing me with time to learn new skills, but providing training, knowledge and experience to assist with this development. This could be funding external training, running internal training by our qualified professionals, or using our electronic and physical libraries to further my knowledge and understanding.
What do you do in your spare time?
I almost completely fill my spare time with volunteering, however when I do get some time to myself, I actively try to avoid chores (especially gardening!) by enjoying computer games, reading and walking my puppy (a not-so-puppy-like German Shepard, who is 35KG and nearly 4).
What would you say to someone considering applying for a job at i3Works?
Stop considering and apply. i3Works is fantastic, and easily one of the best career moves you could make!
View our current vacancies here.
