Meet Maureen: Call center agent turned budding technologist
A career in technology always felt a little out of reach for Maureen Osborne. While she had the interest and willingness to learn, knowing how to break into the tech sector—and what skills she’d need to get her there—made it feel daunting.
That all changed when she heard about the Chatham Technology Hub. While answering phones in the Discover Call Center, Maureen heard about a new Discover initiative to bring technology jobs to the south side of Chicago. The Chatham Tech Hub hires and trains employees from the Chatham community in the skills they need to become technologists.
Excited for the possibility of breaking into the tech sector, Maureen took the initiative—and a boot camp—to learn all about automation and the skills and tools needed to do a job in that field. Her willingness to learn and passion for Discover earned her a spot as an apprentice on the robotic process automation team.
The automation team is responsible for creating automations that mimic repetitive human work, freeing up employees to do more high-value work. The crux of the Chatham training hub is a focus on hands-on training and development.
"I was so impressed with the training and support I received when I joined the program," says Maureen. "We started with introductions to the automation products, worked through some practice automations as a team, and then were paired with a senior developer on the team to really use the product and get started."
After their initial paired programming rotation, Maureen and her team members continued to rotate working with other senior developers to learn and grow her skills until she completed an automation case on her own. Within a year of joining as a technology apprentice, Maureen was promoted to an associate automation engineer, responsible for the entire process of building, testing, and deploying an automation.
Maureen credits her amazing team and the support that everyone—from her peers to her managers—shows each other. "I can't stress enough how incredible my team is and how much support we get. They care about us as a whole person which enables me to do great work and be really invested in Discover and my work there."
With newfound confidence in her ability to thrive in a tech career and with the full support of her team at Discover, Maureen is finishing her degree in computer science and excited about her career in tech.
