From Criminology to Sales: Katherine Joins Dell Technologies and Creates Real World Impact

Katherine T. | Technical Sales Representative | Glasgow, United Kingdom 

Originally Published: May 22, 2023

What is your current role?

I joined Dell in October 2021. I am currently a Technical Sales Representative (TSR) in the public sector covering the National Health Service (NHS). This is a specialty focused primarily on servers but also, storage, networking, and hyper-converged infrastructure. My goal is to advise customers through customizing, modernizing, and optimizing their data centers. 

How did you end up in sales/becoming a TSR seeing that you have a degree in criminology?

My life turned upside down when the COVID pandemic hit. I had plane tickets booked to travel to New Zealand for two years, but with the lockdown that was no longer possible. Thus, I decided to pivot and earn a master’s degree in criminology following my anthropology and politics degree. As I came to the end of my studying, I started searching for a graduate program that suited me. My dad, who had worked in IT for years, suggested Dell. I am forever grateful that he pushed me out of my comfort zone and told me to go for the role, as although I had no experience in IT, he knew I would love it and succeed in it. 

How has your degree supported you in your role?

My anthropology degree has primarily aided me in my role as it focused on understanding people, cultures, and different viewpoints. This has allowed me to put myself in my customers' shoes and improve not only customer relationships but also coworker relationships. 

What do you enjoy the most about your role? I have fallen in love with technology. The fact that I have the opportunity to build technical solutions, problem-solve through different projects, and deep-dive into data center foundations makes me grateful for this job. My specific role with the NHS customers makes me feel like I am making a difference knowing that the solutions I build are going toward hospitals and aid in keeping the NHS going. The last thing that I know will never change and is true for all Dell employees – every day is a learning day. I am grateful to be able to say my knowledge and expertise will continue to grow throughout my career.

What do you enjoy about working at Dell Technologies?

1) The people.

 From the start, my team has been extremely kind and supportive. I came into the role with no background experience and every single person I came across offered to help me. My coworkers offered to train, support, guide, and encourage me. I have felt welcome here by everyone I have worked with. 

2) The extra bits!

Dell is so much more than just a role to me. Yes, I am a TSR, but in the past year and a half I have also led a graduate team creating an app from scratch for all Dell employees, become a co-lead in the EMEA Sales Graduate Core Team, joined the Stem Aspire Program as a mentor, started a management course to better my development, trained others new to the role, joined a team in doing exercise for yearly challenges, and gone to work events to meet everyone in person to have fun such as at Alton Towers! 

What would you say to encourage other graduates to join Dell Technologies?  Do not doubt yourself, trust your ability to learn, and allow yourself to try new things. Whether you have experience in IT or not, Dell will allow you to grow at the pace that is best for you.  Outside of work/work life/balance: With hybrid working and flexible hours, I can have a wonderful work-life-balance. After work, I play sports like weightlifting, circuit training, and competitive cheerleading. I have competed across the UK and am even going to Barcelona this year for the European championships.  As one of five children, I feel so close to and love spending time with my huge family. One hobby we do a lot together is playing games such as Mario Kart - we get extremely competitive!

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