How We Got Here

This year marks Quorum’s 21st birthday and the year that we should hit 100 employees.

As we have developed our services, we’ve grown our wonderful workforce and the people that work at Quorum have become our most valued asset.

We sat down with employees who have worked at Quorum for varying lengths of time to find out how they got started in their career with Quorum.

We spoke to:

Pamela Mundt, Marketing Manager, 4 years at Quorum

Pete Phelan, Senior Consultant, 16 years at Quorumts year

Derrick Ritchie, Managed Services Analyst, 6 years at Quorum

Jackie Wyllie, Account Manager, 6 years at Quorum

What was your background before working with Quorum?

Pete: I worked with Company Net, who have had a long history with Quorum, and I worked with them when they were based at Heriot Watt Research Park.

Derrick: I previously worked in a more application support-based role in my previous company. This involved the maintenance and assistance with windows-based programs, SQL queries and frontline assistance for user queries. I proceeded to work and assist in the delivery of large-scale projects and hardware support including laptops and desktops. In my final few years, I had started to work more in the infrastructure areas of the company including server maintenance and configuration.

Jackie: I worked for a self-storage company for 4 years doing a mix of operational activities/training as well as eventually being responsible for the IT for the whole company.

How did you hear about Quorum or how were you introduced?

Pete: Edinburgh’s a small place! Charles (our co-founder) used to work for Infomatic CTech, an IT Training company as did my wife Emma, so I had socially been involved with a lot of the CTech crew, so as a result was already aware of Quorum when they began and what everyone was up to. I then heard Quorum were hiring through an ex-colleague of mine who had joined Quorum and the rest is history for employee number 6!!

Derrick: I had heard about Quorum through word of mouth and conversations with people working in IT, it sounded like a good company to work for who were involved in some of the latest technology and this piqued my interest.

Jackie: I was lucky enough to be approached by a recruiter who worked with Quorum and who thought I would be a good fit for the Operations position that was open, that was my first role in Quorum before moving to account management.

What do you do at Quorum?

Pete: I’m currently based (have been for the last 12 months) with one of our banking clients doing cloud engineering with terraform.

Derrick: I am a Managed Services Analyst. What this means on a day to day basis is that no two days are the same. It can involve working on a wide variety of technologies and platforms from the cloud to servers in the customers building. It can be designing and building new architecture and servers, troubleshooting network issues or finding solutions to customers problems and assisting them in delivering value for their workers. This also involves working on continual improvements for our client’s systems as we continue to try and find ways to improve the productivity and reliability of our customers systems.

Jackie: My title is Account Manager and my day to day is very varied. I work closely with the sales team to help ensure any new engagements start with the correct governance in place (contracts, PES screening for resources etc) as well as acting as a first point of contact for our internal consultants and clients alike. I also support our operations and finance team with forecasting and other supporting activities. In between that, I do a variety of activities including resource management, managing renewal paperwork and supporting outgoing bids and proposals to name a few.

What is the best thing about working at Quorum?

Pete: The people, I love the ‘consultancy’ morning gatherings that have started up during Covid, it’s reassuring to know that I work with a bunch of likeminded loons 😊

Derrick: The best thing about working at Quorum is the continual variety of work that comes our way, from small issues to large scale projects there are never two days where you are working on the same things. It is a constantly moving, fast paced workplace where your skills are continually improving due to the variety of different technologies we get to work with.

Jackie: The people. Easy. Everyone is keen to chip in and help and even answer questions from a non-techy like me.

What is one tip that you’d give to someone interviewing for Quorum?

Pete: If you’re not a team player or not willing to put in a graft then it’s not the place for you. Be prepared to get involved in some exciting projects. It’s all about delivering quality solutions and if you need help there’s always someone there.

Derrick: To be willing and excited to jump into new technology and new experiences.

Jackie: Be honest about your skillset, what you look to achieve in your career and honest about you personally. Quorum has such a mix of skill levels, aspirations interests and personalities. Its what makes us who we are.