Colleague Profile: Stephen Lankester

"The strong emphasis on customer service in this role was the thing that really appealed to me," explains Stephen Lankester, an IT Systems Engineer who has been working at Strident for just over a year.

"I think it’s unusual for an IT business to place customer service so highly as many seem to be technically lead. Before Strident, I was teaching IT, and then latterly maths and English. But IT was the subject that I enjoyed, so this role offered me the best of both worlds; people-facing and technical."

Although teaching IT at a Further Education level gave Stephen a strong insight into the subject, the rigidity of a fixed curriculum meant there was not much opportunity to explore different areas of IT.

"For example, the backend administrative capabilities of Microsoft 365 were something that I was aware of but not required to use on a day-to day basis. It’s great to be learning rather than teaching.

"This is now an area I’m able to work fluently on and, with a close-knit team here at Strident, I have highly knowledgeable colleagues to call on when necessary," adds Stephen.

Stephen is now embarking on his Microsoft Certification programme. “The encouragement and support from Strident to complete certifications is great. It’s an opportunity to consolidate and formalise the day-to-day working knowledge and increase our skill base."

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