Alex Brownrigg, Programme Manager, EY
Who are you and what is your job?
Hi, I’m Alex Brownrigg. I work for EY in Belfast. I’m a Programme Manager for very large technology programmes. What does that mean? I help big teams work together to build big and complicated tech stuff. I make sure everyone knows what to do and when to do it so that all the work needed is done properly and on time.
What does your job entail?
I’m kind of like the director of a big movie, but instead of actors and cameras, I work with teams of people, technology, and plans. Here’s what that usually includes:
- Planning: Figuring out what needs to be done, when, and by whom.
- Coordinating: Making sure different teams (like engineers, designers, and testers) are working together smoothly.
- Solving problems: If something goes wrong or gets delayed, I help fix it.
- Communicating: Keeping everyone—from my team to senior leaders—in the loop.
- Tracking progress: Checking that everything is moving forward and adjusting plans if needed
How did you get into this line of work and what’s your career being like so far?
Accidentally! I can type without looking at a keyboard and I helped my friend to type the code for a website because he had broken his hand. I discovered that I could understand the code and I helped him to build the website. I did a course after university to become a software developer. I love technology because computers only do what you tell them to do – you just need to understand what you’re asking them to do!
Outline your career to date.
I started off as a software tester – this means that I used to check that the software did what it was supposed to do. What is software? It’s a set of instructions that tells a computer what to do. After that, I become a software developer, that means that I wrote the instructions for the computer. After that I became a project manager, so I helped smaller teams work together to build medium sized software. Now, as a Programme Manager, I help big teams to build massive technology projects with software, hardware and everything in between.
Did you enjoy maths in school? If not, has this changed?
Not really. I didn’t think I was very good at maths and I was scared that if I got the first part of a maths problem wrong, I’d mess up the whole thing. Also, I didn’t really understand why learning my times tables was so important – I didn’t know how maths was needed for my life.
I had a really great teacher who gave me confidence in my maths abilities and showed me that if you at least try to get it right, and something goes wrong, you can see where you went wrong and how you can fix it. With some patience, my maths got a lot better and I was able to break down big maths problems in little pieces to make it easier.
How do you use maths in your role today?
I use maths every single day and it’s super easy now. I still use my times tables to work out things like how long a piece of work will take (7 hours a day x 12 days = 84 hours). Seeing as I manage Programmes, I also manage how much the work costs, so I do lots of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division to work out the price for things.
Even in my life outside work, I still use maths everyday like when I’m in the supermarket so I can work out if a special offer really is a special offer or whether there’s a cheaper option. And I also have to help my P6 and P4 children with their maths homework 😊
